Hatake Uzumaki Naruto
by Akiru13
Summary: Naruto is bashed and left for dead in an alleyway. Kakashi and Rin take him in and along with other Konoha eiltes, train the future team 7 from a young age. NaruSaku. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura extra powerful, no emo-Sasuke. AU.
1. Chapter 1: Family

Hey all, this is my second fic and I'm going to be writing it with my other entitled 'Failure'. I got this idea into my head and it's been building up and bugging me so I decided to write it. Hope you like it. I don't really like the title, so if anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know.

A/N: I don't like manga/anime Sasuke, so in this fic, he's going to be nice, get along with Naruto and Sakura etc, no emo-sasuke in this fic, just warning you now.

I'm going to say this once, I don't own Naruto, and my intentions are purely to hopefully introduce a different storyline and angle, as well as to have some fun writing.

* * *

Chapter 1: Family

* * *

"Minato-sensei! You can't use that, there has to be another way!" Yelled Rin as she chased after her former instructor, who was approaching a battle he wouldn't return from.

"Rin, we both know there is no other way, I have tried to beat the fox, but it's not possible, this is the only way." Replied the fourth.

"Let me fight! I'll distract him while you try something else." Yelled Hatake Kakashi as he too chased his former instructor.

"No! You two are to stay out of the way, it's too strong for me, you two would both be killed in an instant, this is one of my last orders, and so I need you to obey it!" He yelled back, and then something stopped him in his tracks.

"What about your son? What's going to happen to him?" Rin asked, getting the desired reaction.

Minato turned and faced the two jounin and said, "The village, including Naruto is not to know of his heritage, not yet. If it is known that I have a heir, I fear that my enemies will seek out Naruto for revenge against me. He will go to an orphanage until he is of age to leave. He will help me save the village tonight, he is a hero, and I hope that the village see him that way."

"What do you mean by help you save the village?" Asked Kakashi, losing his newly adopted laid back attitude.

"In order to complete this jutsu, I need a host body for the Kyuubi's soul, that host body will be Naruto."

His two students looked at him in awe. "Let me adopt him." Said Rin, not wanting the boy to have to suffer a life of loneliness.

"Me too." Kakashi said, surprising everyone.

"No, to both of you, first reason, you two will be some of the greatest ninja's of this generation, you adopt a child, that is as good as gone. Second reason, I said that I don't want his heritage known yet, two of my students adopting him may just give that away. I do hope that you will look over him every so often, make sure he's doing alright?" He said, with a tear in his eye.

"Of course we will Minato-sensei." Said Rin, knowing not to pursue the matter any further.

Kakashi just nodded and looked back at the ground. "Kakashi," Minato started, Kakashi looked back up, Minato handed him an envelope. "I want you to give this to Naruto, when he's ready. You'll know when that is." He said.

"Ok, Minato-sensei." Said Kakashi, taking the envelope and putting it away.

Minato looked at his students and said, "I couldn't have asked for better students, you've made me proud, the both of you…all three of you." he thought about his other student. "I'll let him know how you two are going; he'll be shocked to hear about you, Kakashi."

"I guess he will." Kakashi said, letting a smile form across his face under his mask.

"Oh, and one more thing." Said Minato, still facing his students.

"What is it?" Asked both Kakashi and Rin.

"Kakashi, take Rin on a date will you, it's painful watching you deny your feelings." Said Minato, trying to make one last joke before he left.

Kakashi and Rin just blushed. "Will do, Minato-sensei."

"Good to hear, now, I have to go." He said, his serious demeanour returning.

Rin went and hugged him, and Kakashi shook his hand. They both thanked their former instructor, before he left for his final battle.

* * *

5 years later, 10th of October.

A 5 year old blonde boy ran for his life through the main streets of Konoha. Behind him was a mob of at least 100 people, with various weapons, from kitchen utensils, to general tools, even knives swords and the like.

The boy cried as he continued to run, he turned off the main street and into an alleyway. The child froze in fear, he was trapped and 100 or so people were trying to kill him.

_Why do they want to hurt me…I didn't do anything to them… _He thought as he curled up in a foetal position in the middle of the closed off alleyway. The boy had been tortured and picked on by the staff, and other children at the orphanage, eventually being kicked out, but no one seemed to care. He just thought it was normal to be treated that way, and started to accept it.

The mob found him and started beating him, punching him, kicking him, and beating him with their rolling pins and whatever else they had. They plunged the boy into a near death state before half of them laughed, after examining the job they had done, they left the boy to die in that alleyway.

_..Why…? _Thought Naruto, as he prepared himself for death, laying in a pool of his blood.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi woke from his sleep, turning to see his girlfriend of almost 5 years at his side. He smiled and got up and got dressed.

He walked into the kitchen to make something to eat. He grabbed the morning paper before heading to the fridge and fetching some left over's. He sat at the table and unrolled the news paper.

_What's going on __today._He thought as he glanced at the paper.

The headline read: '_The__ fifth annual Konoha festival: In tribute to the Yondaime Hokage.'_

_CRAP! It's October already?! _Thought Kakashi.

"Rin-chan! Wake up!" he yelled before racing outside. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He yelled and 100 Kakashi clones appeared in front of him. They all raced out with one objective in mind.

* * *

Rin was not a morning person, and didn't appreciate being woken up on her day off. _I'm going to get you for this Kakashi-kun. _She thought as she made her way to the kitchen, leaking of killing intent.

She walked into the kitchen and couldn't find Kakashi, all that she did find, was a newspaper sprawled across the table, and food that had been dropped everywhere. She picked up the paper and noticed the headline.

_CRAP! _She thought before she too raced out of the house, with the same objective as Kakashi.

* * *

It didn't take long and Kakashi had found the boy, slumped on the ground in a pool of blood.

_Oh crap, I was too late. _Kakashi thought as he raced to the boy's side and scooped him up. "Naruto, Naruto can you hear me?" Kakashi asked, examining the boy's injuries. He left the alleyway and made his way home, hoping Rin was still there.

Rin jumped from rooftop to rooftop in search of the 5 year old orphan. _I hope we aren't too late._

She kept running and jumping and eventually found one of the Kakashi clones. "Kakashi-kun, have you found him?" She asked as she made her way over to it. As soon as she'd finished, the clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

_He must have found him._ She thought as she too made her way home.

* * *

Rin arrived only a few moments before Kakashi and they all rushed inside. Kakashi placed the bloody mess known as Uzumaki Naruto down on his bed.

"Kakashi, go find something to wipe this blood away with, some wet towels and any bandages." She said, as she tried to find where the blood was coming from. Kakashi complied, and within half a minute later returned to Rin's side with everything she asked for.

She grabbed the wet towel and began wiping the blood away, in search of the source. She never found one. She stripped him off to his boxers but still couldn't find any cuts, bruises, nothing.

She was gobsmacked, _He shouldn't even have this much blood to lose._

"Is this the Kyuubi healing him..?" Rin asked, trying to make sense of it herself, but Kakashi answered.

"It wouldn't surprise me, I'm sure it wants to protect the host's body, because if Naruto dies, I believe the Kyuubi will too." Said Kakashi, also surprised that the boy had no evidence of injuries.

Naruto woke up, and saw Kakashi and Rin staring down at him. He immediately ran and cowered in the corner of the room, facing the corner and bracing himself for his next session of abuse.

Rin started crying, and Kakashi just stared. "Kakashi…we can't-"

"I know, I'm going to see the Hokage." Said Kakashi, showing more anger than he ever had before, he got off the floor and stormed out the door and made his way to the Hokage's office.

* * *

"This is outrageous! Do you know how bad he was when we saw him today? He was covered in blood, he was laying in litres of blood, I'm surprised he's still alive!" Yelled Kakashi as he approached the Hokage's desk.

"Kakashi! Sit down." Said the Hokage, as he took another puff of his pipe.

Kakashi complied sitting down on a chair across from the Hokage's desk, but his anger remained. "I want- Rin and I wish to adopt Naruto."

"Yes, I think that's for the best, Kakashi." Replied the Hokage, facial expression still unchanging.

"Rin and I are 19, more than old enough to- Huh? Did you just say yes." Said Kakashi, prepared with a speech, considering that when he'd first tried to adopt he child he was rejected.

"Yes Kakashi, I think that it would be best for you and Rin to adopt Naruto."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said, standing and bowing to sandaime.

"Report here with Rin and Naruto tomorrow morning at 9, don't be late. I shall have the adoption papers ready by then for you all to sign." Replied the Hokage as he stood from his seat.

"Of course Hokage-sama." He replied, he bowed and left the office.

_This will be good for Naruto…I think this should have been done a long time ago. _Thought Sandaime as he sighed.

* * *

"Itachi-niisan" said an excited Sasuke as he approached his brother who was sitting at the table, sharpening his equipment.

"Sasuke, what can I help you with?" Said Itachi, as he too smiled and looked up to face his younger brother.

"Since you're the best, can you come help me with my shuriken training!" Asked Sasuke, admiration clear in his voice.

"Well…since you put it that way, I can't say no." Itachi replied as he got up, ruffled Sasuke's hair and lead him outside.

* * *

Kakashi made his way home in record time. But as he approached the door he regained his composure, with a serious look replacing the pure joy that had been spread across his face just moments ago.

He walked in the door, gave his girlfriend a serious look, not giving anything away. At this Rin was shattered. _So we got rejected again huh._

Naruto was now sitting on the bed, seemingly not as afraid of Rin as he first was. "Naruto" Started Kakashi, staring into the blonde's eyes. "What happened out there today?"

"I-I…was trying to find somewhere to stay…and then this..group of people chased me." He cried as he recalled the events that took place that day. "They caught up to me.." He continued looking down at the ground. "Then they…beat me, telling me to die..calling me a demon and to die." He finished, he then turned around, not wanting to face them.

"Naruto…" Said Rin, walking over and hugging the young boy. Thinking Rin was trying to kill him, he backed off and ran back to the corner of their room.

"Naruto, where have you been staying?" Asked Kakashi, thinking that he was still at the orphanage.

"On the side of the road…sometimes I go to the park." He said, he then smiled. "But I like it there, I have friends there, Sakura-chan and Sasuke, they come and play with me sometimes."

"What do you mean? I thought you were at the orphanage." Said Rin, expressing her worry before Kakashi had the chance.

"I was…" He said, once again looking at the floor, his smile disappearing. "'But they kicked me out a month ago…They said they didn't want demons near them…they said it was a matter of time before I snapped and hurt everyone."

To say that Kakashi and Rin were utterly surprised and disgusted was a complete understatement.

"Naruto, you are not a demon, you are a hero of this village, and in time you will find out why. For the mean time, how would you like to become our son?" asked Kakashi, which was welcomed by a quick scream and gasp by Rin.

"I'm sorry, but I've caused you enough trouble, I better leave in case this demon escapes…I don't want the only people to have helped me get hurt, I will leave." Said the defeated 5 year old as he made his way to the door.

Rin was speechless at the fact that the blonde had accepted this label.

"Kakashi-kun, are you serious? Did Hokage-sama approve this?" Asked Rin.

"Hai, he said it would be for the best." Said Kakashi, as he rushed over to block Naruto form leaving. "Naruto…I told you this, you are no demon, Rin and I wish to become your adoptive parents, we will love you as though you are our own son, and in time, it will feel as though you are."

Sensing no deception from the man, Naruto stopped and looked from Kakashi to Rin and then back to Kakashi. The blonde had only ever trusted Sakura and Sasuke.

"R-really? Can I call you okaa-san, and otou-san?" Asked the little boy, now filled with hope.

"Of course you can!" Said Rin as she made her way over to him and gave him a hug.

Naruto was shocked, happiness wasn't a common emotion that the boy felt. He'd always wanted parents, someone to hug, someone to love, someone to tell him that it's all alright, someone to make him happy.

Kakashi also made his way over to Naruto and pulled both him and Rin in for a hug. They separated after a little while and both Kakashi and Rin just stared at the blonde boy, knowing they'd made the right choice. It went against their sensei's last request, but they knew he'd forgive them if he saw how happy it made his son.

"You smell Naru-kun." Said Rin, finally back down to earth, her senses returning. "You're going to come with us, we need to go shopping!" She finished with a smile over her face.

"I can't go shopping, I don't have any money…." Naruto replied, once again looking down at the ground.

"Silly boy, we're your parents now, we'll buy you what you need, and I refuse to see my son walking around in rags, now listen to your mother and lets go." Said Kakashi, softly, but trying to enforce his point across. "You're not on your own now Naruto, you have us." He said with a smile forming under his mask. "Rin-chan, where first?"

"Well he needs some new clothes…and then we'll have to get some things to liven up his room, and I bet he's hungry." She said, and at that exact moment, an audible growl was heard throughout the room.

"It would seem that way." Said Kakashi letting out a chuckle. "Where would you like to eat?"

Naruto was shocked, these people were being so nice to him, they wanted to buy him things, and **love **him, he could only come up with one conclusion.

_I'm dreaming…I must be dreaming, they haven't attacked me yet, I should wake myself up…._ He thought as he punched himself straight in the face.

"Naru-kun! Why did you do that?" Asked Rin, checking her son for any injuries.

"I..I wanted to make sure I wasn't uhh…dreaming." He said, embarrassed at his actions.

"Awww Naru-kun." Said Rin before once again embracing her newly adopted son. "You can't wake up from this one." She said. "Now, what's for lunch Naru-kun?" she asked as she detached herself form Naruto and stood up straight.

"Can we have ramen?" He asked, now realising this was for real.

"Ok, for a treat you can have ramen, but starting tomorrow, we're going to have you eating a nice healthy diet ok." She said, "Let's go."

Kakashi picked up Naruto and followed Rin outside of the house.

"Thank you, Okaa-san, Otou-san." Said Naruto as they made their way to Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

The newly formed family entered the Ichiraku stall and sat at the stools. The owner, Teuchi, faced away from them and as they sat said. "Irashai (welcome)"

Suddenly his daughter Ayame came from the back of the shop. "Ohayo, Naruto-kun, you don't look very well today, did something happen to you?" She asked.

"Ohayo, Onee-san. Something did happen today!" Said Naruto as a smile spread across his face.

"It must have, you're happier than usual, what happened Naruto-kun?"

"I have a family now!" exclaimed the young blonde.

"That's great Naruto." Said Teuchi, finally turning around and facing the boy. "Is this them?" He asked.

"Hai! This is Okaa-san," he said pointing to Rin, "and this is Otou-san." He said, pointing to Kakashi.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm glad Naruto has someone now, he's such a good little boy." Said Ayame.

"Hatake Kakashi." Said Kakashi, holding out his hand to Teuchi, who shook it, and then to Ayame who also shook it.

"Rin." Said Rin, too holding her hand out to Teuchi and Ayame.

"I'm Teuchi, and this is my daughter Ayame." He said, "hey Naruto, the usual?" He asked, turning to the blonde.

"Yes please Ojii-san!" Said Naruto.

"You come here often Naruto?" Asked Rin, noticing how friendly he was with the owner and his daughter.

"Yep! All the time." Naruto replied, finally feeling he could be himself around his 'parents'.

"Naruto is our best customer." Said Ayame, winking at the boy who in turn blushed. "What can I get the two of you?" Ayame asked, turning to Kakashi and Rin.

"I'll have miso thanks." Said Kakashi.

"And I'll have the shrimp thanks." Rin replied.

"Ok, they won't be long." She replied, before going to help her father with the order.

"Hey, Kakashi-kun, isn't the festival on today?" Rin asked after a moment of silence.

"Umm, I think I read that it starts late afternoon this year." Replied Kakashi as he twiddled a kunai around in his hand.

"Maybe we should go, we'll go get Naru-kun some new stuff, and then head to the festival, sound good?" she asked, looking at both Naruto and Kakashi.

"That sounds good." Said Kakashi, returning his kunai back to his holster.

"I'd like that," Said Naruto, "Every year when the festival comes around, I end up in hospital..."He finished, his smile fading.

"Not this year Naruto, all three of us will go, sound good?"

"Hai!" he replied.

"Oh great Kami!" Said Rin, remembering the date. "Kakashi-kun, it's his birthday!"

"So it is…….well, after clothes shopping, we'll have to get him a birthday present hey." Said Kakashi, also finally realising the date.

"Really?!" asked Naruto, "I've never got one of those before." He finished

"Of course we will Naru-kun." Rin said as she kissed him on his forehead.

"Happy birthday Naruto!" said both Teuchi and Ayame as they set their food in front of them. "The foods on the house today Naruto." He finished once again turning away and preparing more noodles and soup.

"Arigatou, Ojii-san." Naruto said. He then picked up his chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!" he exclaimed before eating his food.

Kakashi and Rin started eating their ramen. "This is really good." Said Kakashi, not having tried this before.

"It's wonderful, thankyou Teuchi-san." Said Rin, also having tried this for the first time.

In between eating, Kakashi and Rin started asking Naruto questions to find a little more about their son. Watching him over the years had only provided them with so much information, and they quickly found out that they didn't see the worst of what he had to go through.

"So Naruto, what is your dream?" Kakashi asked, just finishing his ramen.

"I want to be Hokage, so I can protect my few friends, and now my family, and Ojii-san, and Ayame-nee-chan, and I want to make sure no one gets hurt, or picked on, or feels lonely…" He said, trailing off at the end.

"So you want to become a ninja?" Asked Rin, worried about her sons chosen career path.

"Hai, I want to be the best ninja ever! Then I can protect everyone."

"We're ninja's too you know." Said Kakashi, who was met with eyes of admiration.

"Really?!" He asked, not believing his luck, not only was he adopted into a family who cared for him, but they were ninja's too.

"Yep, I'm an ANBU, and you're mother is a medic-nin." Said Kakashi, "How about this, for your birthday, we'll get you some training gear, and a few training weapons?" He just got it out when he was lunged at.

"Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you" Said Naruto as he hugged Kakashi as tight as he could.

Rin sat there and laughed at the scene. When Naruto finally let go of Kakashi, they left Ichiraku's thanking Teuchi and Ayame for the meal and headed to the clothing store.

* * *

"Ok, lesson one in throwing shuriken and kunai. With kunai, bring your hand back, your eyes never leaving your target, and as you let your hand back out throwing the kunai, snap your wrist into the intended direction which will increase momentum." Itachi said, while demonstrating and hitting the bulls eye.

"That's amazing Itachi-niisan." Sasuke said, admiring his brother's work. Sasuke immediately grabbed one of his kunai and tried to do what his brother said, but only just hitting the log.

Sasuke kept at his throwing until the sun set. His aim getting marginally better by the time they had to leave.

"Sasuke." Itachi said to his brother who gave him his immediate attention.

"Do we have to leave already?" Asked Sasuke, in a standard whinging voice.

"Yes we have to leave already." Replied Itachi, adopting Sasuke's tone of voice.

"Awww come on, pleeeease Itachi-niisan?"

"We'll stay longer, if you're prepared to feel okaa-sans (mothers) wrath." Said Itachi, knowing he'd won.

Sasuke raced to the log he was throwing his kunai at, he collected all of his equipment and raced home faster than he ever had before.

"Hahaha, it seems I win again….then again, I should probably get home too…I don't want her angry either." Itachi Said as he shunshined away from his spot, catching up with his brother instantaneously, before he ran with his brother home. Both boys knowing they would be in danger if they didn't get home before dinner.

* * *

After entering what seemed like every shop in Konoha, and trying on almost every piece of clothing available, and browsing at lamps and desks and such for Naruto's room, they finally returned home. What Naruto paid most attention to though was his new training gear. He had a new training outfit as well as practice kunai and shuriken.

Naruto was in his new room when his mother called. "Naru-kun, go have a shower please! We'll be leaving for the festival in an hour!"

"Ok, Okaa-san!" he said. It still felt weird for him to calling them that, but he knew that's what they were, and that he would get used to it.

Naruto then went and showered and put on a white button up shirt which had a black spiral pattern on the back, and a pair of blue jeans before heading out into the living room to see Rin waiting for him to finish up and Kakashi nowhere to be seen.

"You just wait out here and I'll go get ready." Rin said before heading off to shower and dress for the festival. Naruto just nodded and sat down on the red couch in the living room.

* * *

"It's about time you two got home!"

"It was Itachi-nii-san's fault Okaa-san, he made me train!" Said Sasuke, not wanting to be the one to take the fall.

"I don't care, both of you get ready, we're all going to the festival, your father is already there finishing up his rounds, when you two are ready, we will go meet him there."

"Hai." Both Sasuke and Itachi said as they left and went to get ready.

Sasuke swore he heard Itachi say he'd get revenge, but when he turned his older brother was gone.

_I must have been hearing things…_ Thought Sasuke as he went and got ready to go.

* * *

"Sakura! Ino! Are you ready yet?!" screamed Ino's mother from downstairs.

"I'll be down there in a minute! I've just got to get dressed and do my hair!" Ino yelled back from her room.

"What have you been doing for the past hour then?!" her mother asked.

"I was getting ready! I'll be down soon!" she finished before returning to her task.

Sakura had actually been sitting on her bed for the last half hour waiting for Ino to get ready and thinking about her blonde friend. _Poor Naruto-kun, I haven't seen him in ages, and he didn't look too good when I saw him…I'll look at the park tomorrow._ She thought before finally getting ready to go to the festival.

* * *

Although they seem quite mature for 5 year olds, knowing where i want this story to go i couldn't have them be any older at tis stage, but i couldn't have them being illiterate either, sorry if its a little weird, but it'll get better...I hope.


	2. Chapter 2: The Festival

A/N: It has been waaaaaaaay too long since my last update, I apologise for this gap but it is not without reason and it won't happen again. I'll be keeping the chapters at around 4000-5000 words so I can get updates out relatively quickly.

Changed the last scene in chapter 1, instead of Sakura being at her own house she was at Ino's, you should find out later this chapter. Hehe.

Also I'd like to apologise to solidflamez as, not intentionally, I used an idea from his story, Son of Konoha with the abuse of Naruto and he being adopted, again I'm sorry, but it I didn't intentionally copy that idea, I hope there is enough differences to distinguish the two. Must recommend the story, great read :D

Please people, I appreciate the reviews, but if anyone has any hints to help improve my story, it'd be greatly appreciated

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Naruto but if I did, Naruto wouldn't be as weak as he is and be with Sakura, and Sasuke would be dead.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Festival

Naruto sat in the living room of his new house waiting for his adoptive mother to finish getting ready; he sat on the lounge glancing around the room at photo's, other furniture, book cases and such.

"Kakashi-tou-san.." Naruto said, which broke the silence in the room.

"Naruto..What can I help you with?" He asked, turning to face his son who was sitting on another lounge to the left of him.

"What…will they try…and hurt me..again at the festival?" he asked, recalling the previous years, where he wouldn't make it to the festival. He'd always be assaulted and be near death as soon as he ventured from the orphanage, this year from the park

"I won't let anyone hurt you Naruto…but if you're worried I think I can help you." Kakashi got up and headed for his room. After a searching through his draws, he returned into the living room and said, "Naruto, close your eyes for a second."

Naruto did as his told and after feeling something being wrapped around his face. "Ok, you can open your eyes now." Kakashi said, backing off and examining his work. "Now you can look like me and people won't be able to recognise you."

Naruto rushed to the bathroom and examined the mask on his face. "Sugoi! (cool!) thankyouthankyouthankyou!" yelled Naruto as he ran back in to the living room and latched on to Kakashi's legs.

"I'm glad you like it" Kakashi gave his, what's presumed to be a smile, and ruffled his hair.

"What's all this noise!" Said Rin playfully as she walked out of her room into the living room. She wore her new kimono that was white with sakura petals on the sides and on the back.

"Okaa-san, see! See!" Naruto said, jumping up and down pointing to his new mask.

"What's the mask for Naruto-kun?"

"Now I'm like Kakashi-tou-san!" with what was also presumed to be a smile but under that mask, no one can tell exactly what's going on. "And now…"He said, calming down and looking back to the ground. "I can go to the festival and no one will know who I am…well I hope Sakura-chan knows who it is.." He blushed as he spoke.

_CRAP. _Thought both Kakashi and Rin as they stared at each other. "The Sakura as in pink hair and green eyes Sakura?" Asked Rin.

"Hai! She's beautiful and smart and funny and nice…"He trailed off with his blush still present.

_That may make things a little easier.._ She thought before turning to Naruto and asking "So you like her then?"

"Yep! I told you about her..we all play at the park sometimes."

"Ah well-"

"Rin-chan, perhaps we'll wait til tomorrow for that?" Kakashi cut her off, knowing very well what Rin was going to say. "We do still need to talk to her about it.."

"Yes, good idea, umm Naruto, until tomorrow, you can't say anything about us adopting you, ok" She said, winking at him. "It's our little secret until we see the hokage tomorrow."

"Ok, well let's go!" he said, thrusting his fist in the air before bring it down and point to the door.

"Hai, hai.." Said Kakashi, resuming his carefree and relaxed attitude. They walked out the door and headed to where the festival was taking place.

* * *

"Ni-san! Hurry up!" yelled an excited Sasuke as they approached the festival grounds.

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming, I'm coming. Mother, I shall take Sasuke and look after him, I shall bring him home when we are done." Said Itachi before bowing to his mother and walking away.

"Ok, just don't be too late!" She yelled to her retreating son.

* * *

"HEY TEME!" Yelled Naruto.

Rin clipped his ear and glared. "None of that language young man!" before staring at Kakashi.

"I didn't teach him that, he's barely been with us one day!" he yelled in his defence.

Rin was about to snap back when the two Uchiha's approached.

"Ah, Kakashi-san, Rin-san, nice to see you." Said Itachi, nodding to each of them.

They both nodded back and started to talk with each other, while Naruto and Sasuke had a conversation of their own.

"Hey dobe, what are you doing here with them?" Asked Sasuke, taking in his friends new appearance.

"Can't say, it's a secret." He replied, motioning to zip his mouth.

"Dobe…anyway, want to come with me and my brother, we're just going to look at the stalls."

"Yeah, ok!" he said, nodding before turning to Kakashi. "Kakashi-san," he said before bowing, "I wish to go with Sasuke and his brother, is this alright?"

Kakashi and Rin were completely taken back by this rapid change in attitude, but they both nodded.

"WAHOO!!" he yelled before pumping his fist in the air.

_At least there was a little moment.._

"Ok boys, let's go. Kakashi-san, Rin-san, I shall take him back to your place once we are done, farewell." He bowed and then walked off with the boys.

Naruto turned and faced the entrance to the festival. The stalls set up, the rides waiting to be ridden, the smells from all the food, never had he seen something so amazing. The festival was set up on a piece of land that is usually used as a training ground, it was almost covered in grass except for a couple of places where there was only dirt. 3 stumps were in the middle of the field that had clowns balancing on top of them juggling balls.

They went through the gates and headed to the first stall. It had an elderly man standing in front of a wall of water filled balloons hanging up. On the side walls was the selection of prizes, from a small plush gecko to a massive frog plush toy which was easily as big as Naruto.

"Let's go Sasuke." Said Naruto as he turned and faced his friend.

"Ok, but I'm going to win…" Said Sasuke, sounding quite arrogant.

"Not today Sasuke, today's my lucky day!"

* * *

"Geez girls, you're only 5 years old and it took you that long to get ready! God help your husband's when you get older." Said Ino's mother as she led Sakura and Ino through the gates of the festival grounds with her husband following closely behind. "Look it's already dark, we missed the first couple of hours!"

"Ah well….So what did you girls want to do first?" Asked Inoichi.

"I want to see the stalls, shopping!" screamed Ino as she grabbed Sakura's arm and led her to the nearest stall. Her parents following close behind.

_This is going to be a loooooong night_. Thought Inoichi as he made his way after his daughter with his wife at his side.

* * *

Both boys shuddered. "Was that.."

"Ino" finished Sasuke. "There is no mistaking that scream."

Itachi laughed at the boys antics, and followed them to the next stall.

"But if that was Ino…then that means.." Said Naruto, and immediately thinking of his pink haired crush.

"Yes, your _Sakura-chan_ will be with her..but I don't care WHO is with Ino, we stay away by all means possible, got it?" Asked Sasuke. You see, Uchiha Sasuke was not afraid of many things, but one of his greatest fears was the blonde known as Yamanaka Ino.

"Yeah, I agree, well next-"

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto-kun!" yelled a pink haired girl. Both boys looked at each other, forming a silent understanding and began to run.

Itachi again laughed and made chase on his brother and his friend before grabbing them by the back of their shirts and hoisting them up. "It wouldn't be nice not say hello to your friends now would it boys." Said Itachi, forming a smile at his face, which was countered by glares that could kill.

Sakura, Ino and Ino's parents finally caught up to the trio. Sakura then clubbed Naruto on the head, while Ino clubbed Sasuke. "Baka!" they both said before crossing their arms and pouting.

Both Sasuke and Naruto were rolling on the ground. "Itai, Itai!"

"Okaa-san, can we pleeease go with Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun?" Asked Ino, with puppy dog eyes for added effect.

"Well, I guess it's fine with me, but you have to ask Itachi-san."

Both Naruto and Sasuke shook their heads furiously. Seeing this, Itachi smirked, "Of course Yamanaka-san, I shall bring them back here after the fireworks."

"Hai, well, have fun girls!" Said Mrs. Yamanaka.

"We will!" They both said before dragging Naruto and Sasuke with them to the next stall. Sakura had grabbed Naruto's hand and Ino had grabbed Sasuke's.

Naruto blushed and had a huge grin on his face, while Sasuke just scowled.

"Where to first, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto, smirking at Sasuke's predicament.

* * *

"This could be a problem you know." Said a man as he watched his soon to be adopted son and his friends.

"Aww, but it's so sweet Kakashi-kun."

"Cute it may be, but how do you think they're going to take it?" asked Kakashi, slouching and leaning against the pole.

"I don't know…I don't think they're going to have a problem with it though, they seem to get along.." Rin replied, still watching the two travel from stall to stall.

"That much I noticed…we'll have to wait til tomorrow though…I can't believe we forgot about it though."

"Everything happened quite fast…this morning he was a bloody mess and looked to be dead, we're lucky that she didn't have to see it."

"Well, it doesn't seem as though we'll get as much alone time anymore, so how about we make the most of it?" Asked Kakashi, winking at his girlfriend.

"Good idea Kakashi-kun, how about that stall first?" she asked, loving the reaction she got. Kakashi sweat dropped and reluctantly followed his better half.

* * *

"So…all I have to do, is go into the next room, scare this guy without touching and without using and ninja skills?" Naruto asked the man who was running the next stall.

"Hai, but its pretty hard, tell you what, if a little kid like you can do make him the least bit scared, you can have a choice of any prize on this wall." The stall owner said, pointing to the back wall covered in plush toys, novelty ninja equipment and ride vouchers.

"You're on!" The man then lead Naruto through a door into a room with a large man sitting on a wooden chair. He was about 6 foot 4 inches tall and looked to be around 120kgs, all muscle. Naruto audibly gulped and approached the man. The owner of the stall stood behind Naruto and waited for him to make his move.

Naruto lowered his mask, looked the man in the face. The man screamed. "GET HIM AWAY! GET HIM AWAY!"

Naruto pulled his mask back up and walked out the door. The man stood in awe, this 5 year old kid made him freak out that badly.

The owner walked out of the room and stood back behind his stall. "Well kid, I don't know what you did, but it was good…which prize did you want?"

Naruto stared at the wall for a second before making his choice. "The big pink bear over there oji-san."

The man growled at the title but picked the bear up and gave it to the boy. "There, now get out."

"Aww, did I hurt your feelings old man?" Naruto asked with a smirk before running from the stall and meeting up with his friends.

"Umm, Sakura-chan, I won this for you." He said, holding out his bear in one hand while scratching the back of his head with the other.

"It's so cute Naruto-kun, thank you!" She said, giving her a friend a smile before taking the bear and hugging it. "I can put it in my new teddy bear room!" Said Sakura, admiring her new bear.

Everyone sweat dropped. "You have a teddy bear room?" Asked Ino.

"Well..not yet, but there is a spare room at my house and I have a lot of teddies.." Sakura trailed off and thought about where her teddies could go. "that one could go here..and the other by the window.."

Itachi chuckled and the others turned away in shame. "Ok, how about we go and see this play hmm?" Asked Itachi, pointing to the flier on the pole. It advertised a re-enactment of the battle between the Kyuubi and the Yondaime Hokage.

"Yeah!" yelled Naruto, running off ahead, only to come back a moment later…"Ano..where is it?"

Everyone laughed and followed Itachi as he walked in the opposite direction to where Naruto was going a moment before.

They walked for about 5 minutes before seeing a large crowd around a large stage that was currently concealed behind a large red curtain. The group of 5 found a seat on top of a hill with a great view. Kakashi and Rin stood behind the group, but decided to remain out of view for the moment.

Naruto was on the far left, while Sakura was right next to him, Itachi sat in the middle, with Ino on his right, Sasuke was to the right of Ino and was slowly but surely inching away from her.

They sat and watched the play, from a brief view of the initial devastation of the Kyuubi and when the Yondaime confronted the Kyuubi, next to him a man with brown hair and emerald green eyes.

"O-Otou-san…" Said Sakura, before crying and running off. Naruto instantly got up and ran after his friend. He finally caught up to her, she was sitting down with her knees up to her chest sobbing into her arms.

"Sa-Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan are you ok." He said, crouching down sitting down next to her.

In between the sniffs and snobs, she eventually managed to make a half legible sentence. "My..Parents were..killed in the….Kyuubi attack.."

"I'm so sorry Sakura-chan.." He put an arm on her shoulder, and after a few minutes, she stopped crying. They both stood and walked back to where the others were.

* * *

"It's going to hurt them both…when they find out" Said Kakashi, observing the two walking back to the others.

"More him then her..he'll feel devastated.." Said Rin.

"Let's just hope that they don't find out for a while then.."

* * *

The fireworks were amazing; they lit up the sky in every colour under the sun. It brought a smile back to Sakura's face for which they were all grateful for. The festival was amazing and in the children's opinion, it was over too fast. The group all made their way back to where they met up with Ino and Sakura and bid farewell.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, are you staying at Ino's?" He asked just before they got to Ino's parents.

"Hai, until tomorrow morning. How about we all meet up at the park at lunch time tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry; I have to go to ji-sans office tomorrow."

"Why do you have to go see the Hokage?" By now, everyone had gotten use to Naruto's different nicknames for people.

"Can't say, it's a secret. Well, I'll see you some other time Sakura-chan…Ino.." He said before they parted.

* * *

They were about 2 streets from Naruto's new house when Sasuke spoke up.

"So dobe, when are you going to tell us this big 'secret'"

"Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, meet me in the park the day after tomorrow, I'll tell you then."

"Hn." Was the Uchiha's infamous reply.

_So this is the container of the Kyuubi, yet he seems almost unaffected by its influence. It seems as though it really is under control…as expected. _Thought Uchiha Itachi as he trailed his brother and his friend.

They rounded the last corner and up to the front of the door. Itachi and Sasuke said their farewells and Naruto knocked on the door.

* * *

'_Knock Knock'_

"I'll get it." Said Rin. She got up and headed to the door, unsure as to who the late arrival could be.

She opened the door and was surprised.

"And what do you think you are doing?" Asked Rin, mentally smirking.

"Um, I'm sorry, I'll go now-" He was cut off as Rin picked him up and embraced him.

"Baka, you don't need to knock, this is your house too now. Ok?"

"Oh, ok, I'm sorry." He replied, startled by the sudden show of affection.

"Stop apologising, now, go get changed and get into bed, we have a lot to do tomorrow."

"O-Ok, good night…Okaa-san."

"Good night, Naruto-kun." She said with a warm smile.

Naruto walked through the living room and said good night to Kakashi and went off to his room. He was about to open his door when he saw another door about 2 metres away from his own. He as curious as to where it led, but he didn't want to just barge in.

"Ano..Okaa-san, who's room is that?" he called out.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, good night!" she called back, Naruto called back and then walked into his new room. He examined his new training gear and equipment, his new furniture and other clothing. He was amazed at how much his life had changed in one day. He took off his mask and put it beside his bed. _Knowing my luck, I'm going to wake up back at the park…and this would have been a dream.._ were his last thoughts before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

To his utmost surprise, Naruto awoke in his new house and jumped out of bed. He didn't think that life could get any better. He froze. He remembered his new mother's words from the day before.

"_Ok, for a treat you can have ramen, but starting tomorrow, we're going to have you eating a nice healthy diet ok."_

_No…more…ramen…_His life flashed before his eyes…

_Miso…beef..noodles..NOOOOOOOO_.

Then it hit him.

Now Naruto was quite intelligent, he could read at an early age, with the limited resources he was allowed, the few practical joked he did, he was able to escape from high level ninja and leave no proof that he was the culprit. So something like this was nothing.

_Hehe…If I do something nice, they'll forget all about that diet. Let's see…I can make breakfast, that'll make anyone happy._

He got changed out of his new pyjamas and into his new training outfit and put his mask on. He walked out of the door. The sun had only just come up, so Kakashi and Rin were both still asleep. He stopped and stared at the door but then kept on walking out into the kitchen.

He opened the fridge and the cupboard and took out the ingredients that he would need for breakfast and got started.

* * *

_Mm…is that pancakes? Bacon? Kakashi-kun must have made me breakfast, how sweet._

She thought before opening her eyes and looking beside her. _Nah, they lazy bastard's still in bed…but hang on, if it's not him, where is that smell coming from?_

She got up, changed into her day clothes and made her way towards the kitchen. Upon arrival she peered around the corner and was astonished, the table was decked out for 3, spread with different foods. She looked further in and saw Naruto finishing off the last lot of pancakes. She slowly backed out and walked back to her room. She approached the bed when she heard the front door open.

"Tadaima! (I'm back)"

_Crap_

* * *

"Sakura-chan?! What are you doing here?" Asked Naruto, frozen to the spot.

"Naruto-kun?! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I live here." They both said. "What?" again said in unison.

"Kakashi-tou-san" yelled Naruto.

"Okaa-san!" yelled Sakura.

* * *

"Oh…well, maybe we should go down there…" Said Kakashi, awoken by the commotion down stairs.

"You don't say." Said Rin as she hit him on the back of the head.

After Kakashi recovered they walked into the kitchen to face the two children. Naruto had fixed the table so that it was now set for four. Naruto and Sakura were on one side of the table, facing the entrance to the kitchen. They had their hands crossed and were leaning on the table. The two stared at their parents from the moment they walked in.

* * *

"Hehe..Food looks great, Rin-chan." Said Kakashi, trying to look anywhere but the two children.

"Naruto-kun made us breakfast Kakashi..Thank you Naruto-kun." Said Rin, also trying to look away from the children.

"Well, Thanks Naruto, how about we eat first? Questions later?" Rin nodded and made her way over to the table as did Kakashi. They started eating and after a while, Naruto and Sakura looked at each other before they too started eating.

"Wow Naruto, where did you learn to cook like this?" Asked Kakashi as he ploughed more food into his mouth…seemingly straight through his mask.

"The orphanage made sure I was the one to cook, clean, do laundry, make beds.." he looked down and tried to push the memories of the orphanage out.

They all stopped eating. Sakura voiced what they were all thinking. "They made you do that at 5 years old?"

"They started some of the things when I was 3…but I got used to it. How's the food?" he asked, trying to change the subject. However the pain was evident on his face, with the memories of the orphanage came recollections of abuse, constant beatings, the list went on.

Everyone thanked and complimented Naruto on the food. Not long after, they were all done and the two children once again turned their gaze to the adults in front of them.

"Ok, this is how it is…" Kakashi started to explain that Naruto was being adopted and that he would be living with them. They told Naruto that Sakura had also been adopted and she lived there.

Naruto and Sakura were over the moon, the friends lived in the same house and could play and talk whenever they wanted.

Naruto froze and paled. Kakashi saw this and laughed. "Don't worry Naruto, your secret is safe with me." And winked at the young boy. This got him a confused look from Sakura but Rin knowingly smirked.

After the ground rules were set in for the both of them, they were told to leave and to get ready to go to the Hokage's office.

* * *

"Just sign here…and here….and here." Said the Hokage, as he pointed to dotted lines on a large scroll that both Kakashi and Rin had to sign. They read through the scroll, signing where necessary and then returned the scroll to the Hokage.

"Congratulations Naruto, you are now Hatake-Uzumaki Naruto."

"Thanks oji-san" Naruto said as he jumped up and gave Sarutobi a hug.

The old man laughed before placing Naruto down and ruffling his hair. "To say congratulations and to help you with your dream of becoming a ninja, you can select one jutsu scroll form my personal library."

Naruto's eyes widened before madly thanking the Hokage and hugging him again.

"No problem Naruto. Now, come with me." The Third bit his thumb before swiping it on the wall on the eastern side of the room. A door appeared and the two walked inside. Come back here when you have chosen and I shall tell you if you can have that scroll or not.

The young boy nodded and walked off in search of a cool scroll. After searching through what he thought was a thousand scrolls, he found the perfect one. "Kage bunshin no jutsu? Sounds cool."

He made his way back to the Hokage who was patiently waiting at the door. He gave him the scroll. "Oh Naruto-kun, I don't think this is such a good one-"

"If you let me have that, I won't tell anyone about that little green boo-"

"Kage bunshin it is." The Hokage said as he rushed him out of the room. The door disappeared and Naruto made his way over to his new family.

"Well, I think everything is sorted here, good day to you the new Hatake family." They old man said with a smile. He was happy for the new family and in particular Naruto, the kid had it tough his whole life and now he had a chance to be happy.

_I'm sorry Minato, but I think you'd understand._

* * *

I HATED this chapter, I guess after such a long break, its hard getting back into it. Didn't see that coming did you…well maybe you did, because I gave enough hints. I think the festival was too vague, but I wasn't too keen on the festival…I have a fair bit of the story planned out and it won't disappoint, again, if you have any hints, suggestions, as well as suggestions for new techniques. Please review :D


	3. Chapter 3: Meeting the gang

A/N: Setting this up..it's getting annoying because I really want to get on with the story, to the next arc. But only two or three more chapters before that happens. As for what will happen with the training…chapter 6 the training of team 7 begins, why or how, well that's for me to know and you to find out in a couple of weeks. :P

**Disclaimer: Insert something about me not owning Naruto here.**

* * *

"What...are… you… doing?!" asked an extremely angry 5 year old girl.

"Um..going to have a shower?" A blond boy asked tentatively.

"Look buddy, I get the bathroom until I say so, ok?"

"Hai, gomen, Sakura-chan."

"No problem, Naruto-kun." She said with a smile on her face and her head slightly tilted.

Sakura walked into the bathroom straight past Naruto and closed the door.

_She's scary…_ He thought before walking away from the bathroom, deciding to skip his shower. _This is weird, being in a house..a home..where people don't want to kill you.._

Not much had happened in the couple of days since the festival. Naruto and Sakura would play happily, normal fights that siblings would have had were non-existent, and the only conflict was Sakura hitting Naruto when he did something stupid, which was surprisingly not often. He was still a little hesitant to be himself; he had a lingering fear that they would just abandon him or worse.

But it had only been a couple of days so time could only tell.

* * *

"The look on his face was priceless."

"Poor Naruto-kun, he may as well of confessed his crush on Sakura, and then he finds out we're her parents.."

Kakashi couldn't reply, he was trying to control the laughter trying to escape. Eventually he composed himself. Sitting up in his bed he finally managed to continue with the conversation. "Did she ever mention him?" he asked, still randomly chuckling.

"A little bit, but as far as I know, they hadn't seen each other lately..I'm not sure why though."

"Hm, doesn't matter now I guess, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out though. How interesting would that be- Wait, if they started something…they would try things..it'd be easier in the same house..have to keep an eye on that." Kakashi said, slipping in to protective father mode.

"They're five years old..it isn't an issue.."Rin said, "not yet anyway." She then looked around the room and then at the alarm clock next to their bed. "Oh yeah, aren't we supposed to see everyone today? What time were we meeting them?"

"Eh? Oh right, Asuma said 10 at Yakiniku. What time is it now?"

"10."

"Ah, so we still have an hour or so?" He asked.

"Hai, you're a bad influence you know.."

"Yeah, yeah, but you still love me" He asked turning to face Rin with puppy dog eyes. "..right?" (A/N:Out of character much?)

"Sometimes." She said, a mischievous smirk adorning her face. "Hurry up we need to get two children ready now you know."

Reluctantly the two got up and got ready before heading out to the kitchen.

* * *

"Would you like some toast too Sakura-chan?"

"Yes please Nar-" Said Sakura before being cut off by her mother.

"No time, we're going to Yakiniku to see everyone."

Naruto looked down to the ground before walking back over to the toaster. "Well have fun." His fake smile making an appearance, under the mask that is.

"Baka...we've been through this haven't we, we're a family now Naruto-kun, you have to go where we do, got it?" Rin said, not really leaving room for discussion.

"I know okaa-san, but they don't like me there, so I think I'll just stay-"

"Nope, they won't recognise you with your mask, but with a group full of chuunin and jounin level ninja, you think some owners of a store are going to do anything?"

"Really? But the ninja's won't like me either, half the time it's them…"

Rin knowing where it was going decided to step in. "Not these ones Naru-kun, right Saku-chan?"

"Hai, some are pretty scary." She shuddered as a certain green spandex wearing jounin sprung to mind. "But they're nice Naruto-kun, come on let's go get ready." She said before Naruto reluctantly nodded and then both left the room.

* * *

"Is this is the most youthful Naruto-kun?!" Asked an energetic jounin decked out in green spandex with a badly done bowl cut.

Naruto cowered in front of the group of people that were all sitting around a table which had three hotplates in the middle for cooking the food. There were 6 other people who had their eyes on him. One was a beautiful red eyed woman with flowing brunette hair, he found himself staring at her when everyone started to laugh. He looked around and noticed everyone laughing at him. He knew 

what this was like, the only time people would laugh at him. _Just like when they hurt me..they'd spit on me and laugh.._

He left the building with tears streaming down his face. He was still a little touchy and untrusting, so he did the thing that came naturally to a 5 year old, he ran.

He knew this was going to happen, he needed to leave; he knew it was too good to be true. He ran to his clearing, his place of solitude. He barely heard Rin and Kakashi call out to him as he ran, with Kakashi slowly tailing him.

* * *

"Did we do something wrong?" Asked Hayate, a little confused by what just happened.

"No…I think he just isn't used to people, he hasn't been around people much..he's sceptical about strangers, with good reason…" Rin replied, worried for her son. _At least Kakashi's gone to look for him.._

"With good reason?" Asked Anko

"Yeah, umm Sakura, would you go get me some water please?" Sakura simply nodded and walked over to the counter to get some water. "You all know about his…condition?" They all nodded for her to continue. "He is often…assaulted, bashed by mobs of people civilians and..ninjas."

"That's awful!" Yelled Kurenai

"Shh Nai-chan, let her speak." Said Anko as she stroked Kurenai's hair. Kurenai sat back and nodded.

"A week ago, the morning of the festival, to celebrate the Yondaime and yeah, well.." She trailed off and began to cry, she was furious at what happened the other day, and upset that her sensei's legacy was treated so badly. Asuma gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and she went on.

"Kakashi-kun found him beaten and bloody in an alleyway.." she began to cry even more and Anko embraced her. Sobbing over Anko's shoulder she kept going. "He lost so..much blood. He was healed…by _it_ faster than should be possible..but when he woke up.." She began crying harder and it was difficult to understand.

"He..ran to the corner of the room…he thought we were going to hurt him. He called himself a demon! People bash him and call him a demon so much that he believes them!" She wasn't crying as heavily anymore, she sat back up and was furious, she was furious that he was treated this way, furious that she didn't do more to help him, furious at her sensei for getting himself killed.

No one knew what to say, not even the 'ever-youthful' Gai knew what to say. No one in this group knew much of Naruto, but all knew enough to know that he was an innocent young boy and not a demon.

"So he thought we were going to do something when we laughed?" speculated Ibiki, speaking for the first time.

"I think so.."

"Even though we were laughing at how he made Nai-chan blush." Said Anko as she looked down at the table.

* * *

Sakura, to say the least was shocked. _Are they talking about Naruto-kun? Naruto-kun isn't a demon, and…he never told me he got bashed up.._

While Sakura didn't know about the beatings, she knew that a lot of people didn't like him, most parents wouldn't let their children play with him, and they would send him hateful glares, warn their children not to go near him and sometimes they told him to leave.

And he left, every single time.

* * *

_Flashback_

"Oi demon get away from the park!" Yelled some middle aged blond man with his daughter at his side. He heard him warn her daughter to stay away from him.

Naruto, who was on the swing, got up and left. It was a usual occurrence for him to be screamed at, to be told to get away. He learned to accept it and just left. He didn't want to go back to the orphanage yet, there was nothing for him there, at least here at the park he was just yelled at.

He decided to go for a walk through the forest nearby; it wasn't like he had anything better to do. He started to cry again, he didn't understand why people were mean to him, or didn't want to talk to him. But after four and a half years he had given up on trying to find out why, he just accepted it and moved on- well just accepted it.

He didn't give up on trying to find friends though, he went back to the park everyday to see if anyone would play with him. Almost every day he would be screamed at and told to leave.

He had found a small clearing and he went there after the park. No one was ever there so he could go there whenever he wanted, without anyone trying to interfere. It was about a ten minute walk from the park through the dense trees.

He was about 20 metres from his favourite tree, a beautiful cherry blossom that he would sit under every day. As he was getting closer he heard crying, he walked closer until he could see who was crying. He saw a young girl with short pink hair. She wore a white shirt with short sleeves and pink shorts. She had her legs up to her chest and her arms crossed resting on her knees and was crying into her arms.

Naruto was hesitant to go over to her because he was afraid of her telling him to go away, but he couldn't stand to see anyone cry, so he decided to see what was wrong. He edged slowly over to her and crouched down in front of her. "Hey, are you ok?"

She slowly lifted her head and looked at the boy. "Hm? Yes, I'm fine." She replied as she tried to wipe away her tears and tried to force a smile.

"I'm sorry if I annoyed you I'll leave-"

"NO! I mean, stay?... Please?" Asked the girl.

"Y-you want me to stay? Really?" he asked, not expecting anyone to want him to stay.

"Yes, what is your name?" she asked, as she motioned for the boy to sit.

"Umm..Naruto, what is yours?"

"Sakura…What are you doing here anyway?"

"I come here every day..when..umm yeah, why are you here, I've never seen you here before."

"I come here when people pick on me about my forehead.." She said, pointing to said feature.

"Are they jealous of it?" He asked, not understanding what else she could mean.

"No, they tease me because it's big."

Naruto mumbled something but Sakura didn't hear. "What did you say Naruto-kun?"

"Ithinkitlooksbeautiful." He said, so fast it was hard to hear, hard, but not impossible.

"Really? Thank you..Naruto-kun." She said with a smile, slightly tilting her head. Naruto thought she was an angel, the way the light shone from behind her and the smile on her face, her beautiful emerald green eyes, her pink hair that came to her shoulders. He thought it was the perfect length and that her forehead radiated perfection.

"Of course, it's not too big, and even if it is bigger, doesn't that mean that you have big brains?"

_He's so nice.._ "Thank you, but I don't think it is, I get it from my mother..and the hair.." She looked down and tears threatened to fall once again. She held them back and changed the subject. "So, why do you come here?"

It was Naruto's turn to look down, he didn't want to tell her about him being yelled at, but she had told him what she was doing here, it was only fair that he does the same.

"Umm…People don't like me being at the park, so I come here instead."

"What people?"

"The people at the park.." he replied, glancing in the direction of the park and then back to the ground.

"Did you do something naughty?"

"I don't know, it's just been like that for a long time..every time." He said softly, so much so that Sakura missed the last part.

"Do you play with your friends here?"

"Friends?" He had heard the term, but didn't really understand the concept of it, for someone so deprived from human interaction it was quite understandable.

"Yeah, people you play with, people you talk with."

"Well, no one talks with me or plays with me." He wanted to leave it there, but as it would seem Sakura didn't get that.

"Can I be your friend?"

"WHAT?! Really? Do you want to be my friend?"

"I would like that Naruto-kun." She said, her smile once again making an appearance.

"Wow..thank you Sakura-chan." He said with a genuine smile, something that didn't happen very often. In fact the only people to make him smile were the Sandaime, Old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame from Ichiraku.

"Will you be here tomorrow Naruto-kun?"

"Yep, will you?"

"Hai! I will bring some of my other friends, so we can all play together."

"I'd like that Sakura-chan…well I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow!" he said as he got up and started walking off.

"Bye Naruto-kun!" before she too stood and walked off.

_Flashback end_

* * *

He ran and ran, he needed his tree, it was the only spot that was real, the only place where he wasn't judged. He could be himself with his friends; he could laugh, joke and play around. No one cared who he was or what was going on around them.

_They didn't like me either huh…_

He finally arrived, he jumped up to the first branch on the tree and swung his legs so one was on each side of the branch and his back was up against the trunk.

"Decided to turn up?" Said a boy who sounded about Naruto's age.

"We didn't think you'd come, we usually meet earlier..but anyway, what's this secret?" Said a girl, also sounding to be no older then Naruto.

Both the boy and girl were sitting on the left of Naruto over by another tree, where they usually sat. "Sasuke…Ino, how's it going?"

"Good, now what is it?" Sasuke asked, now getting impatient, he wanted to know the other night, it even seemed that his brother knew, but he wouldn't say anything either.

"Heh..I forgot about coming here for that…Guess it doesn't matter now anyway."

"What do you mean? We didn't come here for that! Tell us, please Naruto?" Asked Ino, sounding like she always did, like a banshee.

"There is nothing to-"

"There you are! Do you want to come back now?" Asked Kakashi as he stumbled into the clearing.

"Kakashi-san?! Aren't you Sakura's dad?" Ino asked the new arrival.

"Hai, Ino-san, how are you today?"

Sasuke was taken back._ Sakura's dad?! Hatake Kakashi…Why would Naruto have been with Sakura's parents? _

"Good, but we want to know Naruto's secret.."

"Oh? Well it isn't a secret anymore, we adopted him." Kakashi stated as he walked over to where Naruto was.

"HUH?! Does that mean they're brother and sister? Naruto and Sakura?" Asked Ino, concerned about her friends position before she just started laughing.

Sasuke laughed as well, he laughed so hard that he fell out of the tree. He finally composed himself before sitting up…only to start laughing again and roll on the ground clutching his sides.

"What are you laughing at?" Asked Naruto, he thought he was missing out on something, he needed a laugh, but not to be laughed at..not again.

All he managed to get out of them however was 'she' 'he' 'you' 'crush' 'living together'.

"Naruto, will you come back now please? They weren't laughing at you." Kakashi asked, deciding to interrupt the obvious joke.

"Really?! I thought…"

"Rin-chan told you right? They aren't like that; they were laughing because you made Kurenai blush." Chuckling as he said so.

"Kurenai? Who's that?"

"The one you were gawking at, the one with the red eyes, that one." he winked just for a reaction.

A reaction he received. It was Naruto's turn to blush. "I must have looked stupid, running away…"

"I think they'll understand…but we should get back, we've been gone a while."

"Hai, Kakashi-tou-san!" He jumped off the tree and over to his adopted father. They walked out of the clearing and back to Yakiniku.

"They just left us alone…" Said Sasuke, feeling completely rejected and forgotten once he had properly composed himself.

"It's alright Sasuke-kun, we can hang- huh Sasuke-kun, where did you go, Sasuke-kun?"

_Everyone's gone..ah well.._

* * *

He felt embarrassed that he had assumed the worst and ran off like that. _If they didn't hate me before, after that they will…_

They entered the restaurant..again..and walked over to the table where everyone was sitting. Sakura had since rejoined but none had started eating yet. Naruto walked over to the table. "Ano..sorry for running away..you were laughing and it…brought back bad memories..I'm sorry." He said before bowing.

"Ahh don't worry about it Naru-kun." Said Anko, in a voice that was somewhat seductive, but also sent shivers up the spine.

"Who are you?" he asked, not one for stuffing around, he went straight to the point.

"Ah, we didn't do introductions did we?" Said Kakashi as he nudged his son.

"No Kakashi-tou-san.." He said the next part in a whisper so that he thought that only Kakashi was here, he obviously didn't know that ninja's had sensitive hearing, "Who is the purple haired one…she's scary.."

Kakashi chuckled but the rest tried to hold it in to hide the fact that they'd heard.

"Ok, well, that is Mitarashi Anko, " he said, pointing to the purple haired chuunin, (I'm going to skimp over the descriptions, not too good at describing people's appearance, so just think of them about 7 years younger.) "This is Morino Ibiki," pointing to the large jounin with a bandana over his head, "This is Sarutobi Asuma," pointing to the large smoking jounin, "This is Yuuhi Kurenai," pointing to the red eyed wonder he'd been staring at previously. Kakashi winked when he mentioned her and Naruto once again blushed. "This is Gekkou Hayate," he said pointing to Hayate, who every few seconds would start coughing. "And this.." he sighed "is Maito Gai." He said, pointing to the spandex wearing jounin.

They all waved as they were introduced and in turn he waved back. Naruto was about to sit next to Kakashi when Sakura patted the bit of the chair next to her and said, "Sit here, Naruto-kun." Everyone raised their eyebrows and looked at the pair but said nothing.

"So, Naruto-kun, why are you wearing that mask?" asked Kurenai.

"So people don't know who I am." The others didn't know what to say to that, so they chose not to say anything.

After some mindless chit chat their food arrived and they began to cook it. "So Naruto, do you want to be a ninja?" Asked Ibiki, who was the second in charge for Konoha's interrogation unit.

"Hai, I want to be the Hokage." Once again everyone raised their eyebrows.

"Hokage, eh? Why's that?" he enquired.

"I want to protect my precious people, and...I want to be recognised."

_Quite an intelligent kid, innocent and pure too…I'm surprised the mistreatment of the villagers hasn't broken him.._As usual, Ibiki was broken from his thoughts by one Mitarashi Anko.

"So Naru-kun, who are your special people?" the sadistic chuunin enquired.

"Everyone..I want to protect everyone in the village, like the other Hokage's..Sandaime-jii-san said that to become the Hokage you have to want to protect everyone..I want to protect everyone..so they don't get hurt, so no one gets hurt…"

To say that everyone was taken back would be an understatement; never would they have expected a 5 year old boy to answer in such a way, especially Naruto with the way that he swore to protect the people that he has been ridiculed by every single day. No one knew what to say, so naturally, Gai stepped in with his youthful speech..

"Your attitude is most youthful Naruto-kun! I shall help train you to achieve your dream!" the psychotic spandex clad jounin said, pumping his fist into the air.

"Err, thanks, Gai-sensei?" he unsurely replied

Rin stepped in and bashed Gai on the head before he got started on his plans for training. _Poor Naruto-kun…_ She thought, before returning to her food.

By the end of the meal and the discussion, Naruto became a lot more familiar with the group and began to talk more and more as the day went on, and was sad when it came time to leave. They bid their farewells and made their way home.

* * *

"Sasuke? What's wrong?" his mother asked as he came walking through the door, panting and pale.

He shuddered. "Ino. Alone. 2 Hours. Hate. Naruto. Sakura." His mother laughed before bending down and giving the child a hug.

"Oh, Itachi left about 10 minutes ago, said he would be waiting at your normal training spot." She released her son and made her way back over to the stove where she was cooking dinner.

"Thanks mum, I'm going to get my stuff and go."

"Ok honey, don't be too late!"

"We won't!" _hehe I can get payback tonight for letting Ino come with us around the festival.._

??

The Hatake family arrived home and all sat in the living room. Kakashi and Rin had decided to talk to them about wanting to become a ninja and training them for it.

"Ok, so you two want to become ninja's?" he received a nod in response so he kept going. "It's not a nice life, you have to kill people, people could kill you, or those precious to you..are you sure you want that." Although it took a little longer for them to reply, they nodded again. "Well, I guess the earlier you start your training the better right?"

He received two very enthusiastic nods in return. Rin then steps in to talk about chakra and how it is formed and moulded using hand seals. "Using these hand seals, you can perform techniques. These techniques are separated into 3 main categories, they are; taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu, and there is also kekkei genkai abilities." _That you both have_ Thought Kakashi and Rin simultaneously. "Within ninjutsu there is elemental jutsu, sealing jutsu, and cursed seal techniques. Within the three categories are kinjutsu (forbidden) and secret techniques. Secret techniques are usually passed down in clans, where kinjutsu are moves that are forbidden because they cause harm or are generally looked down upon due to a range of circumstances."

She then went on to explain the different hand seals, what certain seals are used for more than others and what to expect when seeing certain combinations. She explained how to mould chakra and the different elements and that everyone had an affinity and that some people could train their other elements to use it as effectively as their affinity, however it is a rare occurrence. She explained the concept of genjutsu and how to identify and break the breakable ones.

The explanation went on for quite a while and by the time they had talked about different types of techniques and ways to increase the amount of chakra and how to increase control.

"Tomorrow your training starts. It will be light so to start off I will be training you." Said Rin, "I will go through some of the techniques on building and controlling your chakra, once you have a sufficient amount and control Kakashi-kun will help you with some techniques, got it?" she received a groggy nod in return from the two.

In all honesty she was proud of them for being to sit still for that long and listen to the explanation; little did they know they'll have to go over the same thing when go to the academy, only it would be spread over about a year's worth of work. She decided not to tell them that just yet though.

"Ok time for bed, good night Naru-kun, Saku-chan." They bid their farewell before stumbling down the hall into their respective bedrooms.

"What do you think about their affinities? If my suspicions are correct, with the right training, they will become quite formidable." Rin said to Kakashi once the children were out of earshot.

"Well I think Sakura will have the two, and well Naruto, I'd say one, but his father was one of the few to achieve them all..in only a few years. And with his visitor, I'm a little concerned about his amount of chakra, and how the system will work..Jiraiya-sama or Hokage-sama would know more about that I think, we'll ask them later on.."

"Mmm, good idea, well, let's go to bed, it was a long day." Kakashi nodded and followed his girlfriend into the bedroom.

* * *

As soon as Naruto closed his eyes he was plunged into a sewer like system with about 2 inches of water on the floor. He heard deep loud breathing down one of the passages. He followed the passage until he came up to a huge gate with a piece of paper on the gate labelled 'seal'. The force that seemed to be oozing out of the gate was pure…_evil._

He heard laughing and walked up closer to the gate albeit hesitantly. A paw snapped out at him and he rolled to the side, barely avoiding it.

"**HAHAHA So it did weaken…" **Said what seemed to be the owner of the paw.

"W-what weakened? And w-who are you?" Asked Naruto, unable to see more than the paw that was retracted.

"**When you were left for dead two days ago, the seal was weakened due to the need for my chakra to heal your wounds. Due to the sudden increase in chakra, your wounds were able to heal quite quickly, that will not happen again, it will not be able to heal them that fast...And as for who I am…I'm going to tell you a little story…."**

* * *

Well, that last part involving Kyuubi wasn't going to happen, but I felt the need to explain how he was able to heal so fast, because yes it was quite unrealistic, but just how much we get from the Kyuubi is yet to be revealed. I realise that Sakura really isn't getting much attention, but starting from next chapter, all 3, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke will be getting almost even attention. For all you die hard Naru/Saku fans out there like myself, Naru/Saku fluff will not start until after the time skip. First off I can't do it much earlier due to well, they're 5 at the moment, and even at 12 they're a bit young to do much, 15 is easier to work with. Until then, they'll deal with conflicting emotions and certain…tests..mwuahaha..anyway, enough from me, until next time, ja ne.


	4. Chapter 4 Tragedy

* * *

Time skip! Minor, only a year.

* * *

A year had come and passed, it being quite uneventful for everyone. Kakashi and Rin had been training Naruto and Sakura on building and controlling their chakra, as well as training them lightly in taijutsu and ninjutsu. Rin had trained Sakura in a little bit of genjutsu as Naruto was found to be hopeless at it.

Sasuke had been trained by his brother, Itachi, like Naruto and Sakura, he was only trained lightly and occasionally Naruto would go over to train with the 2 Uchiha's, or having a training spar with Sasuke. The figures stood at 11-10, in Naruto's favour.

They would be trained only a couple of times a week, as Kakashi and Itachi had missions to do, and Rin still had medic duties at the hospital. In their free time, the 4 of them, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Ino, would all hang out at their clearing near the park. Much to the dismay of Naruto and Sasuke, Ino hadn't changed one bit and it really didn't seem as though she would. They started to tolerate her a little more, Naruto for Sakura's sake, and Sasuke..well Naruto was his best friend, he didn't have much of a choice but to follow.

Naruto and Sakura definitely had some sort of crush on each other, but at that age, it was nothing, it was unlikely even they knew what it was.

Naruto would still visit the Sandaime, and was now quite open with Kakashi and Rin's friends, assigning a nickname for almost all of them. Some appreciated, but most not. Naruto had finally begun to trust people…when he had his mask on. Since becoming a Hatake, and wearing his mask, he hasn't had very many threats, none while Kakashi or Rin were around.

Yes, life was in a nice little routine for the citizens of Konoha, no word of wars or attack had been heard and it was a pleasant change for the elder citizens, living in a time of peace. Little did they know, time of peace was at an end, a disruption of this peace, this tranquillity would hit this very night.

* * *

"Yahoo!" screamed Naruto as he ran down the hall.

"Yes!" Sakura screamed as she too ran down the hall.

"What are you so happy about?" They both asked, pointing at each other.

"Kakashi-tou-san said Sasuke could sleep over tonight!" Said Naruto, before he started running around in small circles.

"No way! Okaa-san just said Ino could sleep over tonight!" Naruto stopped running immediately, as a result he lost balance and he fell flat on his face.

"No way! Okaa-san!" Yelled Naruto, not long after, Sakura yelled,

"Otou-san!"

Kakashi made his way from the living room, from where Naruto had just come, and Rin came from her room, where Sakura had just ran from.

"Eh? What's the problem?" Asked Kakashi, slumping against the wall in the hall way, slipping his hand to his pocket before he caught a stare from Rin before crossing his arms.

"Sasuke-kun can't sleep over, Ino is!" Yelled Sakura.

Kakashi looked at Rin and they both asked, "Ino/Sasuke is sleeping over?"

"Yes! Kakashi-tou-san/Okaa-san said he/she could!" The kids yelled in unison.

Kakashi and Rin looked at each other again and shrugged, "Why can't they both?" Asked Kakashi.

"Oh.." Said Sakura, "Don't you two annoy us! We'll tell kaa-san on you!"

Naruto just got an evil glint in his eyes which didn't go unnoticed; Kakashi smirked before he too got an evil glint in his eyes. Which too didn't go unnoticed, Rin smirked before the evil glint was projected in her eyes too.

"Naruto, with me." Said Kakashi, before he dragged Naruto back into the living room.

"Sakura, with me." Rin said before she pushed Sakura back where they had come from.

* * *

Naruto and Kakashi buried themselves in the lounge room talking tactics, while Sakura and Rin were in Rin's room doing the same thing. Naruto was prepared for something like this, while Sakura and Rin were off doing 'girly things' Kakashi would give Naruto a little bit of training in stealth and sabotage. Kakashi actually learnt more from Naruto than he had been able to teach him.

There were countless missions wanting the masked assailants detained for the various pranks that had been played. The one prank that Naruto took alone was when he hid the Hokage's 'green book' as Kakashi had blatantly refused to pry a mans icha icha from him, he thought it to be inhumane.

Sakura wasn't as talented at these sorts of things, but Rin had learnt a little bit from watching her sensei and Obito, and after Obito's death, her sensei and Kakashi play various pranks on the village. She would never involve herself, but wishing the whole time that she did.

If only her sensei could see her now, planning his sons demise together with his god daughter. It made her think what could have happened if the children's families had survived. _The two of them would have been egging them on to get together…_

A knock on the door cut her from her musings. Rin quickly made sure that Sakura knew what she was doing and went to answer the door.

* * *

_The dobe said come at 3- _His thoughts were cut short by the scream of what could only be described as..

Ino.

It didn't even seem that the term 'banshee' was applicable now, no, Yamanaka Ino was on a whole new level. _He set me up! What the hell is he trying to do._

"Sasuke-kun! What are you here for?"

"Ugh..do I have to do this."

"Do what Sasuke-kun?" Ino said, holding her hands in front of her and slightly tilted.

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but the door was opened by Rin who escorted them in. "Sasuke-kun, Naruto is in the living room with Kakashi, and Ino, come with me."

Sasuke nodded and made his way to the living room. What he saw when he got there freaked the hell out of him. Floor plans, diagrams scrolls scrawled everywhere with scribbles of writing on each. "Greetings Kakashi-san, dobe." Said Sasuke, as unnerved as he was he cautiously made his way over to the two. They turned and nodded in his direction before turning back around. "What the hell is going on here? First you set me up with Ino being here, and a study period?"

Kakashi slightly chuckled before ushering him over to the table. "Nope, we're planning the demise of your two friends..come have a look." Sasuke made the rest of the way over to the table and looked at its content. Plans and theories on potential pranks for the night. Only one word could sum it up…_Brilliant._

"Right boys, I'll let you sort out step 1, and I'll go help Rin out with dinner. I'll see you guys later." He waved before he shunshined out of the room.

"Pathetic…it's one room over and he can't even walk.." Muttered Naruto. "Ok, teme, this is how it's got to go…" After an hour of explanation and fits of laughter later, Sasuke was fully aware of how things were going to go down. "So we do nothing 'til 7 got it? Keep it quiet, make it seem as though nothing is happening."

"Hn. Got to admit, for a dobe, when it comes to this sort of stuff you're pretty good." Naruto smirked, hearing Sasuke compliment him was something that never happened. "But if you EVER tell anyone I said that, you're dead…as soon as I get my sharingan, you're dead."

Naruto, still wanting to mock his friend said, "Phew, for a second there I thought I had a problem, but considering the likelyhood of you getting your sharingan, is the same of you and Sakura-chan being boyfriend and girlfriend."

It was Sasuke's turn to smirk. "Oh? Didn't my darling Sakura-_chan_ tell you? We went to that Ichiraku ramen place your so fond of for our first date, but what came after wa-" He was cut off by a fist in the face. He went flying into the wall making a slight dent.

"Teme…" Then it hit him, the perfect idea, he had 3 hours to spare and this would be perfect.

* * *

"So we strike at 7?" Asked a slightly worked up Ino. Sakura nodded in response. "But we won't hurt Sasuke-kun right?"

Sakura shook her head and looked down. "Get over him, have you seen his hair? It looks like a chickens bum!" noticing the change of emotions from worried, to angry, to a smirk slightly unnerved the cherry blossom.

"And what about your darling Naruto-_kun?_ Do you think he even knows what a brush is?"

Sakura's eyebrow started twitching before evolving into a smirk of her own. "Pfft, as for your Sasuke-_kun_, you can have him, you know we went out on a date the other night?" She knew she had her hook line and sinker by the crestfallen expression on her face. "Yeah that umm.." _Whats a place, what's a place?_ "that uhh Ichiraku ramen place."

A resounding slap could be heard throughout the room. "YOU DID WHAT?!" She screamed, her hand still not leaving Sakura's face. She pulled her arm back and placed it beside her before storming out of the room out into the backyard.

* * *

Naruto sat in the swing out in the backyard, swinging slowly, back and forth. The wind blew nicely, slightly blowing back his hair. The silence in the backyard was bliss, the only thing to be heard was the sound of birds chirping and the trees swaying in the wind. All was quiet until a slap was heard coming from the house. The blonde chuckled, _Kaa-san must have found tou-san reading his naughty green book again._

All of a sudden Ino came storming out of the house, walking straight past Naruto and sat under the tree, her legs and arms crossed with a pout on her face.

Naruto saw her upset and considering he didn't like seeing anyone upset, it was only natural for him to go and help her out. He hopped off the swing and made his way over to the tree Ino was sitting in. Instead of going to the front of the tree where she was sitting, he went to the other side, before sitting in the same position, only with his face scrunched up. "Hey…Ino."

She jumped, she hadn't even seen Naruto when she walked out. "So…what are you doing out here?

"Teme annoyed me…what about you?" Naruto was pretty gutted by the revelation, if he had done something with Sakura….he'd get him, and he'd get him bad.

"Heh yeah, forehead annoyed me…so what did Sasuke-kun do?"

He growled, fox like, before saying, "Said he went on a date with Sakura-chan."

That hurt, she didn't think Sakura was being serious, just a harmless joke. But now Naruto confirmed it, there was no doubt, Sakura went behind her back and went for the one she liked. She would pay. "Hey Naruto..let's get back at them, let's….."

* * *

_It was just a joke…as if I'd go eat with him, I like Naruto-kun….but now we're like brother and sister…that can't happen. Maybe.._

The whole situation was still quite confusing for Sakura, it's a pretty hard life being 6 years old. _Guess I should go and find Ino-pig. _She got up off her bed and headed outside her room and out to the backyard.

* * *

Kakashi could only laugh at the sight before him. Up on the light post just outside his house, hung Sasuke, in nothing but his underwear, and on his chest was written _'I like boys'._

_Either Rin and the girls' work, or he did something to Naruto to piss him off. Better get him off anyway. _He jumped up and detached Sasuke from the pole before slumping him on his shoulder and taking him back inside.

* * *

As Sakura got to the door, it opened in front of her and in walked Naruto and Ino holding hands with massive smiles on their faces. Hang on…holding hands?! "What are you two doing?!"

Naruto and Ino inwardly smirked, _working so far_. They both thought. "Oh, we're just going for a walk to the park, bye!" Said Ino before dragging Naruto out of the door.

_**What does she think she's doing, Shannaro! **_Exclaimed inner Sakura.

_Huh? Who are you?_

_**For now, just your inner self. **_She replied.

_Oh..ok then._

After taking out her frustration on the wall she stormed off to her bedroom, and didn't come out until the call for dinner came.

* * *

Naruto and Ino returned an hour later and went out to the backyard and started talking about different stuff, from becoming ninja, to Ino trying to teach Naruto a little bit about flowers and Naruto trying to teach Ino about stealth and sabotage. Let's just say that Naruto didn't pick up on flowers as easily as Ino picked up on sabotage.

They were so wrapped up in conversation that they didn't realise how much time had passed until they heard a call for dinner coming from Rin. The two stood up and made their way inside and into the living room. Holding hands the whole way in, which didn't go unnoticed by the other occupants in the room.

Sasuke scowled in Naruto's direction in reference to what happened earlier. Sakura merely glared in Ino's direction, while Naruto and Ino just smiled and sat down, right next to each other. "Right" Said Kakashi, "Everyone having fun?" Sasuke and Sakura glared, Naruto and Ino nodded, "good to see, well let's eat." In front of them was an arrangement of sushi, various rice dishes and Naruto's favourite, home-made ramen. "Itada-" He was cut off by a knock on the door. He glanced at the clock. _Hmm, 6:30, wonder who that is?_

He got up and walked to the door. A tired and distressed looking chuunin was puffing and panting at the door. "Yes? Can I help you?" Kakashi asked.

"Kakashi-san." He panted. "It's the Uchiha's….they've all been killed, they've all been slaughtered."

* * *

Sasuke wasn't going too well, it had been 24 hours since his clan had been viciously slaughtered. The only survivors being Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke.

Jiraiya, Kakashi, Itachi and the Sandaime were all in the Hokage's office. The air was tense, and the room had been silent for a while. It was Sarutobi who broke the silence. "So Itachi..please explain what happened."

Itachi nodded. And began to recount his story.

* * *

_Flashback_

Itachi returned from his first mission as an ANBU. It was a relatively simple mission; just assassinate an S-Class missing nin, nothing too tough. The only problem was that it took a while to hunt the guy down. He was looking forward to a nice bath and a nice bed to sleep in.

After reporting to the Hokage's office he made his way to the Uchiha estate. The air seemed tense, and it smelled, a strong stench of blood. He quickened his pace and continued with caution. He wasn't prepared for what he saw. The streets were littered with the bodies. His whole clan; dead. Houses were covered in blood, body parts everywhere.

The sight was disgusting, if he wasn't so well trained, he would have knelt over and thrown up. He kept walking, and didn't even notice the pool of blood he stood in. He followed the stream to the body that it was flowing from. Lying there, without his head was his uncle. At this he did turn around and proceed to throw up. What he turned around to was even worse.

There standing on the body of his parents, leaning on two swords proceeding from his parents throats, was his best friend, Uchiha Shisui. He yanked the words from their throats. "Hahaha HAHAHA ITACHI! Like what you see? Like seeing the bodies of our clan members littering the streets? You don't have to join them, join me, Madara-sama helped me get this power, and soon, soon I can make this power permanent."

Itachi was furious, his best friend had killed everyone, "SASUKE?! DID YOU KILL HIM?!" he screamed. He'd seen his parents bodies, but if he'd killed his younger brother, he would take him to the brink of death only to bring him back and repeat. For days, he would pay.

"No, join me and Madara-sama, and we will leave Sasuke alone. Join us, Itachi!"

_End flashback_

* * *

"I killed him, and…I enjoyed doing it…to see him die, to see him pay, if you don't mind Hokage-sama, I'd rather not tell you how." The Hokage nodded and Itachi continued, "I used a jutsu to look at his memories, I have some rather disturbing news."

After a few moments of silence Jiraiya asked, "What is it?"

"Shisui was about to be a part of an organisation called Akatsuki. Their goal was to track down and control the 9 tailed beasts…They're after Naruto, and although I'm unsure as to why, they're also after Haruno Sakura."

* * *

"As it is, judging by some of the members that we knew of, in a solo fight, Kakashi and Gai could take some of the members, and myself and Sarutobi-sensei might not even be able to take on the leader, who we believe to be Uchiha Madara."

Jiraiya, the Hokage and Itachi were explaining the situation to a trustworthy bunch of jounin and highly regarded chuunin. They consisted of: Hatake Kakashi, Rin, Mitarashi Anko, Gekkou Hayate, Yuuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, Morino Ibiki, Maito Gai and Tenzou.

Murmurs were heard at the mention of Uchiha Madara, "We don't know how Madara is still alive, we believed him to have been killed by the Shodaime." Said Sarutobi, "As Jiraiya said, there isn't enough people that could stand against the members of Akatsuki, so I have made a decision. This is an SS class mission, and upon accepting this mission, any chuunin will be made jounin. The mission will last for around 10 years. I can not reveal any more until you agree. So, if you accept this mission stay, if there are any that believe they don't want to accept it, please leave now." The Hokage took a brief break. "However I have no doubt that everyone in this room are the best people for it."

The Hokage looked at all of them, and everyone was determined. It was clear that no one was leaving that room. It brought a smile to the Hokage's face. "Good…I knew I was asking the right people…. Now, Akatsuki is after Uzumaki Naruto, for his 'guest' and they are also after Haruno Sakura, why they are after them I am not aware."

Rin was still in tears from when she had first been told a week earlier. Her two children were in danger, and the fact that she wouldn't be able to do anything to protect them made it so much worse. The Hokage continued, "Therefore, everyone, for the next 10 years, will be training the two of them, every day. We need to train them to be as strong as possible, and it is my belief that after 10 years with this degree of training, they will be as strong as the sannin, or even stronger."

This caused slightly louder muttering throughout the crowd before Rin spoke up, "So what? You're turning them into weapons?!" she screamed.

"No…Rin, this is for their own protection, as well as the villages."

"So at the end of their training, will they be bumped straight up to Jounin then?" Asked Kakashi.

Sarutobi's face narrowed and became, if possible, even more serious. "No, Kakashi, we can't let anyone know that they are being trained like this. They will be put on genin teams with the rest of their generation with fake personas, and obviously, they will have to hold back their true power."

"But Hokage-sama," Anko interjected. "Genin teams are a group of 3, you can't have 2 jounin level and one low genin level ninja on a team. We need a third member."

Sarutobi and Jiraiya had stupid expressions on their face, _Why didn't we think of that._ They both thought. "That is true, Anko. Does anyone have any suggestions for a third team member?"

Kakashi, Itachi, Jiraiya and the Hokage had a good idea of who it should be, but decided to let the others discuss it first.

"Well it has to be someone from their generation…" Said Rin, "How about Yamanaka Ino..they all get along, which would be vital for this."

The rest of the room murmured in agreement at her last statement, but not so much at her suggestion. "Sure the Yamanaka are strong, they just don't have the potential that others may have." Said Kakashi.

"That's true.." Said Kurenai, "How about…Hyuuga Hinata, she is all but exiled from the clan due to what the Hyuuga see as a lack of potential, this would be a perfect opportunity for her."

The Hokage arched his eyebrow at the suggestion and said "Good point, Kurenai, but, the Hyuuga would not allow her to partake in this, and they would also want all the details on why, we can't afford to tell too many other people, I won't even be telling the council about this arrangement."

Everyone's chest swelled with pride knowing that they were so privileged to find out this information.

After most of the 6 year old, to be ninja were discussed, Kakashi had enough and made his suggestion, "Uchiha Sasuke….Not only does he have potential, I feel as though if he was left alone something bad could happen, but if there is something there to distract him…I think this is the best thing for him, not to mention he also gets along with Naruto and Sakura very well."

Everyone agreed, exclaiming that it was a perfect choice in some way or another. "Right, now that is taken care of, I want to discuss exactly what they will be taught, how often they will be taught it and who will be teaching who what. So, what do you all think?"

"Well…I know Sakura has superb chakra control, with constant and the right amount of training, she could have better control than I do within a year. I think she should be taught medical jutsu."

"If she has such good chakra control, I think she should also be taught genjutsu. With good chakra control, she could be quite good at it." Said Kurenai.

"Yes, I have taught her a few basic ones which she seems quite good at; I think it would be a good idea for her to learn genjutsu as well…"

"I think it's essential that they all know a considerable amount of ninjutsu, and I think we should have them working on their elemental affinities as soon as possible. But if Sakura will be trained as a medic and a genjutsu user that would put her in a more of a supportive role. So I think that Sasuke and Naruto should focus on ninjutsu more than Sakura."

"That's true, Kakashi…But I'm hoping you can clear something up for me…it's the only thing that I can see Akatsuki wanting Sakura for, does she have the blood of the Shodaime?" Asked the Sandaime.

Kakashi's face fell, he'd promised not to tell, but at this stage, Sakura was in danger so there wasn't much of a choice. "Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Just as I thought…well, Tenzou, you will try and develop Sakura's bloodline, and if either of the other two have an affinity for water or earth, I ask that you teach them in that particular one."

"Hai, Hokage-sama, but will I be taking a fake name for this assignment?" Tenzou replied.

"Ah yes, for this assignment, you shall be referred to as Yamato."

Tenzou/Yamato said "Hai, Hokage-sama" while bowing.

"All three will be learning taijutsu from Gai, Kakashi and Asuma. They will all also be taught how to build and control their chakra by Rin. They will all be learning from Anko, her taijutsu style, her techniques and well…whatever else it is that she does..Weekly the three of them will visit Ibiki to strengthen their mental resolve, and to learn interrogation and mind techniques. They will see Itachi and Kakashi for ninjutsu." Said the Hokage, "for the two boys. What are their strengths and weaknesses?"

"As for Sasuke" Said Itachi "once his sharingan is active, ninjutsu and taijutsu will be great, and genjutsu, would be just as good. I believe it is also a good idea to teach him to fight with a sword, and I believe he would make an appropriate person to master the use of barriers."

The Hokage nodded. "So we will have Sakura and Sasuke seeing Kurenai and Itachi for genjutsu, Sasuke will learn kenjutsu from Hayate and Asuma, Anko would be the best for barriers. Kakashi, what about Naruto?"

"Right, it is in his blood to be a master of seals, I suggest he is taught in that, I think he should too be taught kenjutsu, his genjutsu is absolutely awful, which I think has to do with the 2 chakra sources. His bloodline will not activate until he is 16, so that isn't an issue at the moment, as for the Kyuubi, I don't know what are the positives or negatives of it being in him are yet. I think that is all." Kakashi replied.

"Right, so this is how things will go:  
Kakashi, Gai and Asuma will teach the three taijutsu.  
Kakashi, Tenzou and Itachi will teach the three in ninjutsu and work on their elemental affinities  
Anko will teach all three.  
Rin will teach the three expert chakra control and ways to increase their amount as well as teaching Sakura medic jutsu.  
Hayate will teach Naruto and Sasuke kenjutsu.  
Anko will teach Sasuke to use barriers.  
Jiraiya will teach Naruto seals, ninjutsu and his father's techniques.  
Itachi and Kurenai will teach Sasuke and Sakura genjutsu.  
Tenzou will be teaching Sakura to use her bloodline, as well as helping either of the others if they 

have an affinity for earth or water.  
Finally Ibiki will build their mental resistance and teach them in interrogation. Their training will begin at the start of next week. Kakashi, Rin and Itachi, you can inform the three of their new training but do not tell them why. Also tell them that this is to remain a secret. Now, you're all dismissed."

They all nodded and left the room, leaving the Hokage to his thoughts. _I'm too old for this shit.._

* * *

Chapter 4 done, quicker than usual too :D. The content in this chapter I had originally planned out over 2 chapters, so if anyone thinks it seems too rushed, let me know and I'll consider doing it again, elaborating it. No the children haven't been forgotten and next chapter will be their reactions and the beginning of their training.

Two things I'd like to ask, one; the pairing, regardless of anything Naruto/Sakura is going to happen. I want to know if anyone wants to see a variation of this, like add someone else, and if so who? Or if maybe a harem, although Naruto and Sakura would be the main emphasis in the whole thing. And two; the training, do you want to see much of it? Or what I could do is have a little bit next chapter and then another, or do a 3 year timeskip for chapter 6. Let me know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5: Hajime

* * *

Yo. Thanks for all the reviews. I posed the question on the pairing last chapter, but after sort of looking at it I decided just to go with what happens, Sakura WILL be involved regardless, when that's going to happen I'm really not sure. I'll give you a sort of outline of what's going to happen. The story is divided into three parts. The training/genin days, part two is after the timeskip, which will be the same as what happens in the manga and anime. And part three I won't tell you what happens, there will be another training time skip, and I'll give you a line from the first chapter of part three.

"Fine, if that's how it has to be, I Hatake Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto officially retire as an active shinobi of Konohagakure no sato."

It isn't a banishment thing or him leaving or nothing, just thought I'd throw it out there. Well, keep reviewing, wasn't sure on how it turned out. One question regarding this story, is it just dialogue? Or is there enough of everything to make it acceptable, what I mean is it just dialogue between characters, with nothing else? Thanks.

* * *

Kakashi, Rin, Naruto, Ino, Sakura and Sasuke all sat around the table for dinner. Sasuke and Sakura were angry at Naruto and Ino for what had happened earlier in the day."Right" Said Kakashi, noticing he tension around the table. "Everyone having fun?" Sasuke and Sakura glared, Naruto and Ino nodded, "good to see, well let's eat." In front of them was an arrangement of sushi, various rice dishes and Naruto's favourite, home-made ramen. "Itada-" He was cut off by a knock on the door. He glanced at the clock. _Hmm, 6:30, wonder who that is?_ He got up and walked to the door.

Meanwhile, Rin asked "So, while we wait, what's going on?" Naruto and Ino just smirked, while Sasuke just sat back and looked around, _How to get him back..? _He thought, glancing around the room. Then it hit him, he really would take Sakura out on a date; that would shut him up. "Nothing." Said Sasuke. He then turned to Sakura and asked, "Hey Sakura, want to get some ramen tomorrow.

Sakura was about to turn him down, but realised that this would be how to get Ino back. "I'd love to go, Sasuke-kun." She smirked at Ino after seeing the look of defeat on her face. Naruto wasn't fairing any better, his friend and rival, was trying to take his crush away from him. The worst part being is that Sasuke knew how Naruto felt, _he's rubbing it in my face.._

"Oh, I forgot to umm…clean my shoes…I'll be back later." Naruto said in a somewhat miserable tone, he looked down as he slid his chair back and stood up. Sasuke smirked, _Uchiha 1, the dobe 0. _Sakura was quite oblivious to Naruto liking her, and nor did Naruto know of Sakura's interest in him, so she just sat there looking at his downtrodden face. He was about to leave the room when they all heard the news. "It's the Uchiha's….they've all been killed, they've all been slaughtered."

* * *

It had been a week since the children's sleepover, and when they heard that dreadful piece of news. Sasuke was taking it surprisingly well. Naruto, Sakura and Ino were trying to help him feel better, but they didn't want to push him too much, even at 6 years old they knew that this was a touchy subject. They knew that Sasuke had been talking to Itachi a lot and that he was seeing a therapist. It had helped that he hadn't actually seen the incident, that could have turned him into an emo avenger with a stick up his ass.

Sasuke was trying to accept the fact that his clan was dead and trying to move on. Move on, but not to forget. He forced himself to be normal in front of the others, but every night since the incident, he would cry himself to sleep and have nightmares about his parents being killed in front of his very eyes.

He was grateful that Itachi had killed Shisui, the one who had killed his clan. Shisui was like a brother to Sasuke, and still can't understand how someone so nice would turn and betray his whole clan one day. He vowed to find the reason why and destroy it. But for now, he needed to do what his brother told him to do. To live on for their parents sakes. He knew that they wouldn't want him moping around for the rest of his life. Itachi had been a large part of the reason that Sasuke was coping so well, and without him, he very well would have fallen apart.

Itachi had told Sasuke last night that he would be trained by a large number of jounin. He said he'd work hard and make his parents proud, he was going to make sure that no one else close to him had to die.

So as it is, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke stood in front of the Sandaime Hokage. It was 5 in the morning, and all three children were sleepy and irritated. They stood in front of the Hokage while the jounin that will be training them were off to the side. The room was silent for about 5 minutes before the impatient, loud and masked blonde child broke it, "What the hell am I doing here at 5 in the morning Sarutobi-jiji?!" Rin clipped him over the ear while the others laughed at his reaction. _Typical Naruto_ they all thought.

"As of now, you will be trained by the jounin and the sannin in front of you. This training will last for 10 years and completion is a must. You will get 1 day off a week but for the rest you shall be training. This is a big secret, you cannot tell anyone, understand me?" he received three nods and continued. "In three years time you will have to attend the ninja academy, as you will have to progress through the ninja ranks like anyone else."

Naruto smirked and said, "No can do, jii-san, the stuff kaa-san makes me read and do is bad enough, I can't do that over 3 years for 6 hours a day."

Sarutobi sighed. He knew Naruto would be a problem. "Naruto, you don't have a choice, if you want to be a ninja, you have to go to the academy."

They say that the best ideas come in time of great desperation. This was no exception, Naruto was desperate, he knew he would go insane being locked in a classroom for that long. "Hehe" the others just sighed, Naruto just wasn't going to let this go. "What if it looks like I'm there?" the others raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"No, Naruto, you can't have someone put a genjutsu on the teachers to make it look like you are in the class room, we put you through the academy for a reason, it isn't just for the sake of it, you need to learn what is taught."

Everyone expected Naruto to be sigh in defeat. But Uzumaki Naruto wasn't considered Konoha's most unpredictable ninja for nothing. He put his hands in the ram seal and said, "Kage bunshin no jutsu." An exact replica of him appeared on his right, earning audible gasps from the others in the room. "I'll just send Fred here to the academy." He smiled at the Hokage, not that anyone knew due to the mask.

Everyone just sweat dropped. "Naruto…you know that shadow clones are an exact copy of you, they don't have different personalities, nor different names. However, as much as I hate to admit it, that is a good idea. You three will have a kage bunshin attend the academy instead of your real selves; this will enable you to train more. "

"Say, Naruto" Said Kurenai, "When did you learn the kage bunshin no jutsu?"

Naruto blushed, he still thought she looked and sounded like a goddess. "Well, after kaa-san and tou-san told us about seals and chakra, I started practicing it. It took me a couple of days to finally get it. I got the scroll form Sarutobi-jiji last year for my birthday."

Everyone was shocked, he learned an A-rank technique in only a couple of days, he was only 5 years old at the time! "Very impressive Naruto, now the three of you will have to learn the technique within the next three years. Well, I think that's everything I have to say, remember this is to remain a secret, you can't even tell your best friends." He handed them a piece of paper. "This is your schedule for the next 6 years. Now hurry along, I believe you have some warm-ups to do with Gai."

The all slumped and walked out of the room, followed by their jounin instructors, half of which were feeling sorry for their newly found situation, the other half laughing so hard they found it hard to stand, while Gai was ranting the whole way out how 'youth shall prevail'.

* * *

"YOSH, 100 PUSHUPS FOR OUR NEW YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!" Said Gai as he gave his 'nice guy pose'. The other instructors had left 'to go and organise what they will be training them on'. In other words, while the children were being driven like slave horses by their new, excessively eccentric spandex wearing sensei, everyone else would be back under their covers for a few more hours.

Naruto scowled, Sasuke huffed and Sakura whined, but they all got down and began their warm up. It wouldn't do well to disobey their first order now would it?

This is how the next hour went. Gai would give them a warm up, they would complain but do it anyway. Only because he told them if they couldn't do it, that they would have to do something twice as bad as what they were instructed. The thing is, even if they did it, they'd have to do that ridiculously insane thing anyway.

Anyway, by 7:00, the children were almost dead, and the day really hadn't begun yet. They walked away from the training ground with their shoulders. They would have died on the inside if they'd cared to check their schedule for what was up next. Lucky the the Gai we love to hate is there to help them with that.

"WAIT MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS, WE HAVE TAIJUTSU TRAINING NOW!" Not even Naruto had anything left to reply to that with…

"WE'RE 6 YEARS OLD; THIS IS CHILD ABUSE YOU FREAK!"

Ok…maybe he did.

For the next three hours Gai showed the three students the basics of his Goken taijutsu style, while Itachi and Kakashi stood to the side watching their children/brother try to keep up. By now, Sakura was literally about to drop with Sasuke not doing too much better. Naruto however, seemed as though he just started. _What stamina.._Thought Kakashi.

"Ok, wrap it up Gai!" Kakashi yelled, walking over to the group with Itachi following close behind.

They all jumped up in joy with energy they didn't think they had. That was until Gai pulled out 3 green spandex suits and a set of weights for them all. "Put these on my youthful students and you will get stronger faster!" He exclaimed while running on the spot, which sort of freaked everyone out.

"Hai, Gai-sensei." They all said, Gai then sped off into the distance, hopefully never to be seen again.

When Kakashi turned back around he was mortified, his eye started twitching as he asked, "What..the HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING NARUTO?!"

Sakura, Sasuke and Itachi turned back to see what Kakashi was on about. It didn't take long before they were all on their knees vomiting. Yes even THE Uchiha Itachi was on his knees vomiting at the sight. There in the green spandex suit and orange arm and leg bands was one Hatake Uzumaki Naruto.

"Get it off…NOW!" Yelled Kakashi, if it was one thing he was scared of, it was Gai. His son becoming Gai's clone was worse than any torture imaginable and as long as he was alive, he would make sure nothing like that happened. EVER.

* * *

"Let's go Sakura-chan!" Yelled Naruto as he pulled the blanket off of her. The raw killing intent leaking from her was intense, it was only rivalled by two people; her mother when Kakashi woke her up or read his perverted book and Tsunade of the sannin when Jiraiya was being perverted around her. All in all, the situation our young hero finds himself in isn't enviable. "Come oooon Sakura-chan, I don't want Gai-sensei to give us extra stuff because we're late." He whined.

No more than 10 seconds later, Sakura was up, dressed and chasing Naruto out of the house. Naruto ran for the sake of his very existence, he was chased around Konoha 5 times before Gai caught up with them. The air was clean, the sky clear and was a comfortable temperature. It was the perfect day, not that they had realised this in their fit of rage/despair.

"Good morning my students, I see you are feeling extremely youthful-" He was cut off by a roadhouse kick to the side of his face, courtesy of one extremely outraged pink haired kunoichi in-training. Said kunoichi didn't stop to see her work, instead sticking with her chase of her team mate.

The two had never referred to each other as brother and sister, but both understood that it is what they were, and was what everyone else saw them as to, so they referred to each other as friends and teammates. Back to the chase.

By the tenth lap around Konoha, all of their instructors were up on the Hokage's tower watching an enraged young pink haired girl chasing a screaming masked blonde. They were all laughing at the situation, as anyone would. That is if they were on the sidelines.

_Got to think of a way to get her off my tail, got to think of a way to get her off my tail. Hah, I know._ He crossed his fingers in the ram seal and yelled. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" after that, 300 Naruto clones appeared, all running in different directions.

Sakura saw the real one jump off to the side trying to hide. She smirked and ran over to where he was hiding. He was hiding in a barrel, scrunched up in the foetal position with his hands over his head. He didn't notice Sakura standing there until the barrel was decimated and he lay unconscious in a heap next to her feet. She lifted him up by his collar and walked off. She dumped his body at the feet of his mother before falling over and leaning forwards, her shoulders slumped and her head down.

Rin chuckled before patting her adopted daughters head. "Good girl Saku-chan." Sakura looked up to her mother and smiled. Everyone else just sweatdropped before shaking their heads and leaving the tower to get ready for their day.

* * *

"Okay you three, up until now, you've all managed to balance a leaf on your forehead using your chakra. Today you will be learning to climb a tree." Rin said, pointing to a large tree in the middle of training field 7, next to it were 2 other trees which were almost equal in height.

"Wow…and I thought this was going to be hard." Scoffed Naruto, he was going to continue on his sarcastic rant, but before he could, Rin was sticking to tree only using her legs. "Wha..How are you doing that?!" he yelled.

"Using a constant amount of chakra I can stick to or walk up, down and around this tree." She said, demonstrating each as she said them.

The three looked at Rin in awe, all speechless. The blonde looked at it and snorted, "Hah, that looks easy, I can do it." He made the ram seal and gathered as much chakra as he possibly could, which after actually doing the chakra control exercises that his adoptive mother made him do, was a hell of a lot. He ran at the tree closest to him and put his first foot on the tree. He flew back 20 metres and slammed into a tree, while the spot on the tree that he had his foot was shattered and the tree fell back into the forest.

The others' jaw dropped, the base of the tree lay shattered, and the tree had collapsed with the potency of his chakra. _That's insane, there's no way a 6 year old should have that much chakra, not even I could shatter the base of the tree. Kakashi probably could, but that's amazing_._ It'll be almost impossible to gain good enough control over that. _Rin thought, replaying the scene over in her head.

_Haha dobe, we're supposed to walk up the tree, not blow it up._

_Naruto-kun is soooo cool, but is he hurt?_

Said blonde broke them all from their musings as he walked back from where he came, staggering with a huge gash on his right leg, and his left arm looking out of place. "Too much chakra?" He asked before falling forward and hitting the ground. A large _thud_ and the sound of something cracking as he hit the ground and blacked out.

??

After being healed and scolded, the three made their way over to see their last instructor for the day. Konoha's nympho-snake mistress, Mitarashi Anko.

The training field they were told to meet at was completely bare. There were no stumps, no trees, no dummies. Nothing. The three made their way to the middle of the field and sat, awaiting their instructor.

"I'm worried about this one…" Said Sasuke, laying down on the small patch of grass where they had decided to wait.

"Yeah, she's crazy, I don't know what we're going to learn from her.." Said Sakura, sitting on Sasuke's left.

"It could be fun. She can't be THAT bad can she….well ok she is, but maybe she'll be different during trai-" He was cut off by a large snake appearing about 50 metres away from them, with said instructor on top of its head.

It charged at the three unsuspecting students, who proceeded to jump up and run for their very lives. As the snake got closer, they could hear their instructor laughing insanely. "Oi teme!" Yelled Naruto. "Have you got any wire on you?"

"Yeah! But why do you want it?" replied Sasuke, reaching into his pouch and pulling the wire out.

"I have a plan! But I need the wire." Sasuke nodded and chucked him the wire. Naruto put his hands into the ram seal and yelled. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" All of a sudden, 100 Naruto clones appeared, all holding the wire in their hands. They ran straight at the snake, with a large group on either side. They attempted to wrap the wire around the snake, but only achieved to wrap themselves in the wire, leading to a free for all brawl between the clones.

Anko started cracking up laughing at the display and dismissed the snake. She walked over to the panting children, still a little shaken up from a huge snake chasing after them. They sat down and slumped over, Naruto dispelled his clones before joining the two who were on the ground. He chucked the wire he had to the side. He had an odd feeling in his head, like the start of a headache. _Whoa, I think I just got all the information from that, I know exactly what happened, I need to test this. The clones are made up of pure chakra, and are sort of separate from me, different from the normal bunshin. If it's made up of my pure chakra, but being a separate thing, maybe it gets it own memories, and because it's my chakra, I get those memories..? Nah, that'd be too cool…_

His thoughts were disturbingly interrupted by a lick to his cheek. He turned so quickly that her tongue ended up sliding into his mouth, and gliding along his tongue as he finished turning due to his mask being ripped off in the brawl. He quickly scrambled back and started spitting everywhere, in an attempt to dispose of the 'crazy lady's germs'.

Luckily, for Naruto's sake, the other two didn't see what went on and were looking at Naruto as if he was an idiot. "You taste nice, Naru-kun." Anko said, in that seductive yet sadistic tone of voice. This got a couple of confused looks from Sakura and Sasuke, and Naruto's face was expressionless. _She tastes nice too, nice and sweet. _

"Ok, let's get to work. I know that you are learning taijutsu with those three freaks, but it won't hurt to know a few different styles, that way you can use different kata's and stances and make your own style. So I will teach you the 'snake fist style' (Ugh, how original.) I want to go over some of the basics today, and we will do this until you have it at a satisfactory level then gaki's, we move onto some ninjutsu and genjutsu. Any questions?" Anko said, she waited for the three to shake their head, but as usual Naruto had something to say. He put up his hand although reluctantly. "Yes Naru-kun?"

"Uhh, d-do…we have to train with you?" he asked.

Anko smirked, "Ohh, doesn't my Naru-kun want to spend some time with his Anko-chan. You wanted to play when I looked after you and Sakura, why not now?" she asked, sounding quite childish.

"You summoned a dozen snakes and told them to chase after me for a couple of hours! You think I wanted to do that?!"

"Poor Naru-kun, I guess if you don't want to learn heaps of cool stuff and get really strong.." she smirked, she knew she had him at that. There was no way he was going to turn down an opportunity to get strong.

"YES! I do, I'm sorry Anko.." She coughed, "I'm sorry, Anko….chan."

Sasuke smirked at the display. That was until a snake was shot out of Anko's sleeve and stopped an inch short of his crotch. "That's alright Naru-kun. Now let's start."

For the next 3 and half hours, the three were taught the basics of Anko's taijutsu style, and after she gave a quick kiss to Naruto's forehead, they were told to leave.

"'Bout time, she was giving me the creeps." Said Naruto as they walked down the street heading home. "But at least we can go home now, nice food and sleep.."

"Uh-uh" Said Sakura, "Every night after training we have to go and do study and theory work with kaa-san and Kurenai-sensei."

Naruto snorted, there was no way he was going to go do book work, he'd been doing that for the past year with Rin, he wasn't doing it anymore. _Maybe…..I'll test this thing on the Kage Bunshin. I'll send one with them instead of me going myself. But Sakura-chan will tell if I don't go, and so would Sasuke, he'd get annoyed that he had to go and I didn't.._

He ran around the corner quickly, made the right seal, whispered "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." And got his clone to run back around to his friends. "Sorry guys, thought I heard something." The others just shrugged before heading back to Naruto and Sakura's house.

* * *

"One bowl of miso ramen old man!" Said Naruto as he walked into his favourite place of all time. Ichiraku ramen. He didn't look around, merely took his normal spot and put his head down on the counter.

"Are you tired, my little Naru-kun?" Asked everyone's purple haired chuunin. "Aren't you supposed to be with your mother doing your theory work?"

_YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME_ "Hehe, if I umm, tell you a secret, you can't tell no one, ok."

"Are you going to tell me that you love me?" she said, looking into his eyes, fluttering her eyelashes.

"NO! I think I know something about the kage bunshin, and I wanted to test it..and get out of that boring work at the same time." He said, scratching the back of his head in a very Naruto-like manner.

"What about the kage bunshin Naru-kun?"

"I think I learn what they did when I use them, and I wanted to test it, maybe it can help with training."

_WHOA, if he can learn what they do, there's no doubt he can learn a lot faster, I saw him make at least 300 clones, that's 300 times faster than normal training! But most people I know can only make 20-30 productive clones, and takes a huge amount out of them. The sannin could probably make 100 productive clones. He's only 6 years old! It must be the Kyuubi's chakra, so it's probably only him who could do this effectively._

"That's a very clever analysis, Naru-kun."

"Heh, kaa-san has been making me read stuff and get smarter all year, and I thought about it today after I tried to wrap the snake up. I'll tell you if it works, if I can make my training faster, I can tell everyone and everyone can get stronger faster."

_To think…most people would keep that a secret, but he'll tell everyone about it, he really is a weird kid. Too bad it wouldn't work too well for anyone but him._ "To tell you the truth kid, only you could do it, you have a lot more chakra than anyone else, and the kage bunshin splits the amount of chakra into pieces, so that each clone, and your original self has an equal amount. So what I suggest is that you just keep this between us, and if it works like you think, I'll organise a place so that heaps of clones can train on some things while you do your normal training with us instructors. Have a certain amount working on each thing that you have been learning. If you tell anyone else, they might get jealous and angry, so just keep it between us."

"Ok, thanks heaps Anko-chan." He said, with his trademark foxy grin, although hidden by his mask. The ramen was put in front of him and in no time at all, it was gone.

"Damn, gaki, I didn't even see your face, why do you wear your mask anyway?" She asked as she too started to eat her meal.

"It's so no one knows who I am, the marks are a give a way. If you want to see it, I guess I can show you…"Anko furiously nodded and waited for him to take of his mask.

* * *

"….and that is why manipulating your elemental affinity can be useful. Any questions?" Asked Kurenai, who was sitting next to Rin, on the opposite side of where Sasuke, Sakura and 'Naruto' were sitting. They all shook their heads, well Sasuke and Sakura did, Naruto had put his head down and fallen asleep few seconds ago. Yep, even clones get tired.

Kurenai threw a book at Naruto's head, giving an unexpected reaction. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"NARUTO!" Yelled Rin, loud enough that even those at Ichiraku's could hear.

* * *

"Oh…crap, they found out I was a clone, and did you know that having an air affinity is rare? Haha awesome, it works…but I am so busted.."

Anko laughed. "Ok gaki, you start your training with Gai at 5 tomorrow morning, so how about you meet me at training grounds 44 tomorrow morning at 4:30, I'll show you in and get you set up, you don't have to worry no one else will go in and I'll keep your little secret."

Naruto thanked Anko profusely before leaving to head back home. Oh how he was looking forward to that…_At least Anko-chan is nice, not what I thought at first.._

_Nice kid, _thought Anko, _seems pretty closed off to his emotions though…can't blame him, I guess I__ do the same thing.._

* * *

After being scolded for the second time that day, Naruto and Sakura went to bed and Sasuke went back to the Uchiha estate.

Over the following month, Naruto got his clones set up in the forest of death, while he went and saw his other instructors. Over the week his clones got more and more to do as he saw more instructors, he noticed he was getting better faster than his team mates, but he decided to pretend as though he was going worse than both, if he was going to keep his clones a secret, he would have to hold back so he wouldn't seem suspicious. Anko kept his secret and none of his other instructors knew what was going on. They noticed that he was a lot more tired and stressed than the others, but they put that down to him being smaller and not having as much stamina as the others. Anko and Naruto knew better. It may seem like cheating, using the Kage Bunshins, but he still has to put up with the strain of it all, and hey, it isn't any different than say a kekkei genkai.

Naruto and Sasuke were taught kenjutsu by Hayate, they were only being taught how to use a katana at present and were both learning two different styles, Naruto was learning the descending Dragon style, while Sasuke was learning the Soaring Hawk style. Naruto was doing well with his style, especially with the assistance of his clones, and was observing Sasuke train with his style, so he could remember it and have his clones learn the both. While he wouldn't be physically enhanced by the clones, he would gain the knowledge and therefore learn the different stances and kata's.

Same goes for the taijutsu. All three were making alright progress with Gai's Goken taijutsu style, and like kenjutsu, Naruto was using his clones to learn the stances and kata's to familiarise himself 

with it. He had gone to the library to look for other taijutsu/kenjutsu styles that he could learn. He had also been looking for ninjutsu that he could teach himself to add to what he was being taught by Kakashi, Itachi and Tenzou. They had decided not to develop their affinities yet as they thought that it would be too much at a young age. They were however tested to find out their affinities and how they would train and develop them. Naruto had an affinity for wind, water and lightning which surprised all of the instructors. Sakura had the two she was expected to have, water and earth due to her bloodline and being able to use mokuton abilities. Sasuke had the affinity for fire as all the Uchiha did, as well as an affinity for lightning. The instructors were surprised that they had all had more than one affinity at this young age. They realised just how much potential the three of them had.

Sasuke would see Anko twice as much as the others due to learning about barriers. He lasted a fortnight before Anko could see that there was no hope for him in doing it. So it was agreed that Sasuke would not pursue this training, and much to everyone's surprise, Naruto volunteered to take it up. Everyone being surprised because they thought he didn't like Anko very much. However after their talk at Ichiraku, and their interactions since then, they had started to get along a lot better, and after a couple of weeks, Naruto found that his favourite training session was when he was with Anko which is why he took up the chance to train with her more often. He turned out to be as good with barriers as he was with seals, which he seemed to be a natural at. Due to Anko knowing about the Kage bunshin, he was able to use that during his training to make it faster.

While Naruto was with Anko working on barriers, the other two worked with Kurenai and Itachi on genjutsu. They could tell that the two were going to be quite good with genjutsu, learning the theory behind them and mastering a basic within the first month.

Sakura was working on the anatomy of the human body and learning about different injuries and illnesses, it wouldn't be until later on that she would learn actual techniques, and the amount that Rin could teach her was limited. She wasn't the greatest of medics, that and there wasn't a whole lot of time for it anyway. However Sakura soaked up the information and could recite it perfectly when needed, it was easy to tell that she was a natural.

After the first incident, the chakra control activities were going a lot better, one Naruto had reduced the amount of chakra by a hell of a lot, it only took a couple of sessions to get to the top of the tree. They all had the weights that Gai had given them, none were wearing the green spandex that they had been given, which every other instructor was grateful for. Sakura was a complete natural with her chakra control which will assist her in becoming a great medic.

While Sakura was working with Rin on her medic stuff, Naruto was working with Jiraiya on his work with seals. He could make storage scrolls, and is now working on being able to put a large item in a small pouch using seals on the inside to save some space while there being easy access. As with the other things he was using his kage bunshin to learn more about seals, using various books that he had found at the library and practicing. Jiraiya noticed that he was learning a lot faster than most, but put it down to him being a natural like his father. Just taking half as long. Sasuke was given a 'free period' due to him bailing on Anko's training, and spent it working on all the things that he had been learning.

The three got a day off a week, and for the past month had spent it sleeping, and in the afternoon would go and meet their friend Ino. The three were missing out on the childhood that most children have, but due to the three being orphans, it could have been worse. It wasn't as though the training sessions were very strict either, the instructors were laid back enough so that everyone had a good time, even Itachi was beginning to warm up to everyone, however it was going to be a long process.

The three were enjoying themselves and were happy that they were going to be strong by the end of the training mission. Sasuke wanted to make sure he would be strong enough so that nothing like the Uchiha massacre would happen again. Naruto wanted to get stronger to protect his precious people and eventually become Hokage. Sakura also wanted to become strong so that she could protect her precious people and so that she could stick up for herself and to try and make her parents proud.

The instructors know that they are going to great things, but are still cautious as to how they'll use their power, and what these great things will be.

* * *

In regards to the tree incident, I'd like to reiterate that the seal has been slightly weakened and that he has been learning better chakra control over the past year, so with a large amount of his own, plus the kyuubi's chakra, and being taught how to channel it to the right spot, I don't think it's THAT unlikely. It does drain his supply though.

I prefer to use Japanese for techniques and such, but I fear that using a basic translator will just stuff them up, so if there is anyone who knows of a really good one, or would be willing to translate for me, could you please tell me.

Naruto is going to be more powerful than the others. However he is not going to be kage level by the time he is a genin, I think being taught for 6 years using the shadow clones he could be, but he still won't be that strong in this fic, at this stage. He will be on par with the sannin skill wise, perhaps only to be beaten Sarutobi, the Sannin, Kakashi, Itachi and Gai (in taijutsu) due to their experience. The other two will be about mid-jounin, due to experience and yes they are learning a lot, but the time they can spend on each is limited.


	6. Chapter 6: Results and Revelations

Yo. I did chapters 5-9 within a week, quite bored. So umm yeah I have up to 9 done, and 10 is just about there but I want to keep it at a weekly release basis. Unless maybe I get a decent amount of reviews, that say more than 'nice chap'. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that you like it, but maybe what you liked about it and what you didn't?

I have a feeling people aren't going to like this chapter too much..but don't kill me, ne.

LOL Fred is just one of the random names I'm going to chuck in there, any people with significance will have Japanese names so don't fret.

* * *

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

**Hatake Uzumaki Naruto:  
Chapter 6: Results and Revelations.**

* * *

It is now a month before the three will graduate from the ninja academy, and the training of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had gone a lot better than anyone could have predicted. Naruto, having used Kage bunshin, had progressed far more than what anyone would think possible. In the six years since he had started this method. He had gone from using 300 shadow clones, to now using in excess of 1500. Over time he had improved his chakra control and chakra stores so much so that his control would be only bested by Tsunade of the sannin. This was possible as he had a tenth of his clones working on chakra control exercises everyday for the six years. He has also since then spoken to the Kyuubi and made peace with it, and thus it stopped conflicting with his chakra system making it easier for him to control. The Kyuubi had explained its story as to how it was provoked into attacking the village, which Naruto was a little sceptical at first, but ended up believing him.

The Kyuubi had first made contact with him at the age of 6, but was unable to communicate again until the age of 11 during a near death experience. As in he accidentally walked in on Sakura when she was having a shower, he was plunged far into his mindscape to be met with an extremely amused fox. After coming to civil terms with the fox, it complained that Naruto wasn't getting strong enough fast enough and therefore decided it would step in and help. So our blonde found himself training with some 1200 shadow clones by day and the Kyuubi would train him at night. The Kyuubi's power had given him the affinities for the earth and fire, the two that he didn't have. He then trained to manipulate the five, therefore making it easier for him to use ninjutsu of any sort. The Kyuubi had taught him some of the jutsu that he had seen when he was free and roaming and, oddly enough, provided him with some useful information. It was only a month ago when suddenly no communication could be made with the fox. The cage and seal was still there in his mindscape, and he could see the fox, but he couldn't communicate with it. He decided he would alter the seal at a later date. The only person that he had shared this information with, was his now favourite instructor, Mitarashi Anko.

The two had become quite close and friendly through the secret kage bunshin training and their one on one barriers training. It had been 6 months ago when she had told him about what happened with Orochimaru and how she had only returned about two years before this whole training thing started. She was eight years older than Naruto but she felt she could relate to him better than she could to anyone else, even to her best friend Kurenai. After this, Naruto told Anko that he knew the 

Kyuubi and exactly what had happened. He told her that he had been training with the fox and that he had gained the last couple of affinities. He knew he could trust her, and she knew she could trust him. They would often get together when they had free time and just talk about anything and everything. Kakashi had noticed that Naruto had a crush on his sensei, but when confronted about it, said they were just friends and that he had strong feelings for Sakura. He still wasn't game enough to talk about how he felt about Sakura, and in fact felt awkward at the fact that they were sort of brother and sister. He tried to get rid of his feelings for her many times, but he just couldn't. He didn't know exactly what he felt for her, but he knew that he always felt funny around her and an undying need to hold her, protect her, and make sure she was alright. He started having similar feelings for his purple haired sensei, but again knew there could be nothing there, after all, you can't date your sensei, there are some serious ethical issues with that.

As well as suffering from conflicting emotions, Naruto has come a lot further in his work with seals than Jiraiya, and was easily on par with his father, but had his own work to show for it. He physically had to seal his chakra signature so that it wouldn't arouse suspicion as it was too large to control. He had a large amount of seals all over his body that looked like tattoos, but due to his expertise, he could control whether the seals would be visible or not, by a simple mental command. Jiraiya was amazed at how far his student was travelling along, and now, the two of them work together making new seals rather than Jiraiya teaching Naruto. The only seal related jutsu that Naruto is yet to learn is the Hiraishin, due to it being a part of his bloodline that can't be awakened as yet. Naruto saw his perverted instructor as a grandfather and in turn Jiraiya saw Naruto as his very own grandson. The constant perving that his mentor would call 'research' was a problem for Naruto until Jiraiya saw how good Naruto was with his seals and since then Jiraiya has been quite attentive.

The three had mastered Gai's taijutsu style within a year and a half and also went on to study the taijutsu styles that Kakashi and Itachi knew. The both of them didn't have a set style as it was a combination of all the styles they had seen and copied with their sharingan. Asuma had taught them a style that could only be described as a street brawl. Naruto and Sasuke mastered all the styles, while Sakura wasn't able to master all, but being extremely competent with each. The three were now developing their own style during their sessions with their taijutsu instructors using what they knew. Naruto had offered to lend them the books and scrolls he had on the various taijutsu styles that he had copied from the libraries; however they politely refused saying that they had enough styles to make their own.

Naruto, since he had first begun his training with all the taijutsu styles, constantly had clones looking for any flaws with the styles he had and would try to fix them with any of the other styles he knew. The kid has a foolish exterior, but he is a natural when it comes to productive training, making new techniques and styles.

Hayate had taught Naruto and Sasuke everything he knew within the first few years, and after that all three had used scrolls on different styles and learnt them together. All of them they went through Naruto had already done, but he didn't want to give that away as it would raise questions, so he played along acting as though he was really bad, which he did with every instructor except for Jiraiya and Anko.

Sakura was one of the best with her chakra control that Konoha had ever seen; she was a prodigy in her own right, as Naruto was with sealing. She was a complete natural at it, while Sasuke and Naruto 

had to work a lot harder, Naruto had to work a lot harder, but it paid off at the end. Sasuke had proficient chakra control to a low jounin standard, Sakura had high jounin standard chakra control and Naruto had better than most, but not all of the Sannin.

Sasuke and Sakura were both good with genjutsu, Sasuke significantly improving after achieving his sharingan 6 months ago. It happened when Anko came at him full ball and was activated mid battle. After he dodged that strike and realised that he had activated his sharingan, he was so happy that he didn't notice Anko's right leg smack into the side of his face. Naruto and Sakura still laugh at him about that.

About 6 months ago when Naruto displayed that he had good enough chakra control for genjutsu. Due to him already being taught more than the others, he had to go to see Kurenai on the first half of his day off. He didn't mind as he'd always liked his red eyed goddess, and Kurenai always had a soft spot for him, ever since they first met.

They got along well, and yet again Konoha's most unpredictable ninja cracked the seemingly perfect façade that Kurenai had made. He'd cracked Anko's in 5 years, and Kurenai's in 6 months. The two were quite serious around each other at first, like they all were when they had their theory lessons with her and Rin each night. However after a while they started to laugh and joke around. She only acted like this when she was alone with Naruto, and to a lesser extent with Anko. He didn't know why she was like this when she was around him and not the rest of the time, but he figured that was her business and he shouldn't get involved. He was just happy they got along well.

She felt weird around Naruto, something she wasn't familiar with, she could be herself, he had a personality that made you melt and the cute looks and actions to match. She too was 8 years older than Naruto but, like Anko couldn't help but feel attracted to her blonde student. Sometimes she'd find herself staring at him while he was talking, not really listening to what he was saying.

It was decided that Sakura would be developed in her affinities for a reason they weren't told. The reason was however, that if she developed her bloodline, she could partially control the power of the bijuu and in turn the jinchuuriki. Which would be useful if anything ever happened to Naruto's seal. The other's had no idea that Naruto knew of the fox, and Naruto didn't want to tell them that he knew. He still felt bad that most of his friends and family had lost someone to the fox, he made a vow that Uchiha Madara would pay for what he did.

While Sakura would be trained in her affinities, it was decided that Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't be as of yet. Naruto did with his clones, but his instructors are still unaware. They learned hundreds of techniques, Naruto and Sasuke more than Sakura as her main focus had been her bloodline which was still not perfected. Naruto would have known more due to his extra study, but after gaining the sharingan, Itachi allowed Sasuke to copy some of his techniques. This was frowned upon by some, but due it being his bloodline and that he was using it to get stronger, as Sakura was with hers they reluctantly accepted it. Coupled with the fact that in a few years, they would all have awoken their bloodlines.

For about a year Naruto worked on a variant of the Kage bunshin so that it would last longer than just being hit once. He didn't have very much time on it, which is why it took so long, and it was only when he learnt about blood seals did it click. By offering a blood sacrifice, and combining it with a 

larger amount of his chakra, he could make a clone that will last until it has actually used the chakra was used, which is like the normal Kage bunshin that it split the chakra evenly. Although he doesn't know why, he can't make too many of these clones at the same time, not that he needs to. Their original purpose was to get out of those boring theory lessons his mother and Kurenai would make him sit through. He'd done it for about 4 and a half years, he got the information so he didn't see a problem with it, although he got hit every time he walked in to make sure it was him and not a clone. He smirked every time he got that memory. After he started his training with Kurenai, he wanted to spend more time with her, even if she wasn't like she was when it was just the two of them. So he started attending the sessions. He probably learnt more from his clones though, all he seemed to do was stare at Kurenai with the same lazy attitude that his adopted father has. Which angered many, mainly his adopted mother.

Which brings us to where our three students are now. All sitting at the table in Rin's living room as usual with Kurenai and Rin on the opposite sides to them. "Are you sure that's what happened to the Kyuubi and the Yondaime Kurenai-sensei?" Naruto asked, smirking mentally at the now pale and stiff bodies of his two instructors.

"Y-yes, Naruto," Said Rin, "What else would have happened?"

"I guess…" He said. The two instructors relaxed and the colour returned to their faces. "But, if he went down killing the Kyuubi, he would have used some sort of suicide technique probably." They stiffened once again.

"And surely there would have to be some sort of catch to it, one human life for the Kyuubi no kitsune, it doesn't make sense."

Sasuke huffed and Sakura nodded. "That's true Naruto-kun, it doesn't make sense."

_Crap_ they both thought. "Well that's what happened" Said Kurenai, "I think we should leave it here for tonight."

"Yeah" Rin said, "We should. Oh and Naruto, you have to go see Hokage-sama tomorrow morning, bright and early."

"Ugh, what does the old man want, I have to see Kurenai-ch-sensei, "he cursed himself for almost slipping. It was enough that the others in the room noticed though, Kurenai stifled a blush, Rin raised her eyebrow and looked between the two, Sasuke seemed indifferent and Sakura clenched her fist. She now knew she had a crush on her team mate, perhaps even more than that, which is why she became angry at what he was going to say. _He probably thinks I like Sasuke thanks to this stupid acting we have to do._

* * *

_Flashback_

"So Naruto, did you teach the others the Kage Bunshin no jutsu?" The Hokage asked form behind his desk, looking at Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto.

"Sure did old man, so no academy for us tomorrow." He said with his foxy grin.

"Yes about that, when you go there, I want you to act completely different to what you are, as well as not displaying any of your powers. As to why I want you to act different is because if you are using your real personalities you may let something slip, so if you're already acting it should be easy." The three just nodded and waited for him to continue. "Ok, Sasuke, I'd like you to act quite depressed, antisocial and arrogant.-"

He was cut off by a rather over opinionated blonde. "Haha, no acting for Sasuke then."

"Hn." He said before turning away from his teammate. Sakura giggled slightly but then realised that what she would have to do could be something just as bad.

The Hokage chuckled before continuing on, "Sakura, in order to be like the rest of the girls in your age group, you're going to be one of Sasuke's fan girls."

Sakura paled and Naruto clenched his fists. Sasuke collapsed in laughter, but was brought out of it by a hard kick to the ribs, courtesy of an outraged kunoichi.

"And finally Naruto, you're going to be an idiot, the class clown, the prankster so to say." Naruto laughed.

"Too easy old man…but you realise you're going to get all the complaints from the instructors."

He paled, that meant more paperwork. "More…paperwork…" he mumbled. "You don't need to be THAT bad do you?"

"Umm yep." He said as he grinned under his mask. "Hey, Sandaime-jiji, if you let me have 3 scrolls of my choice from the Hokage's library, I'll tell you the secret to getting out of paperwork."

The Hokage's eyes gleamed, "Anything, anything you want, tell me, tell me." He said, sounding like a 5 year old in a candy store, it was quite amusing for the room's other occupants.

"Scrolls first, then I tell you." The Hokage looked like he was weighing it up for a second before he beckoned for Naruto to go with him. He looked around for about half an hour before coming out with the three scrolls that he wanted. Not showing anyone what he got, he put them in some storage scrolls he had before putting a blood seal on it.

"Ok old man, two words, Kage bunshin."

The Hokage slumped back in his chair mumbling something about 'smart ass blondes' and 'that's why Minato was never doing paperwork'. "ahem, anyway, have your clones be at the academy by 9 tomorrow morning, you're dismissed." They bid their farewells and left the tower laughing the whole way out.

_End Flashack._

* * *

_It's not like it matters, I'm sure he only sees me as his sister anyway…_

The three said their goodbye's before Naruto and Sakura went to their rooms and Sasuke went home.

* * *

"WHAT?! I don't want to go for a month long trip with Ero-sennin old man, what the hell?!" Was the exact response that Sarutobi was expecting from his favourite blonde shinobi. Boy was he surprised.

"Of course old man, it'll be good to get out of here for a little while, a rest from my training. Not to mention an S-rank mission under my belt…"

The Hokage chuckled and said "Very well Naruto-kun, so you agree to go?" the blonde nodded, "Very well, you need to take your face mask off once you get out of the town, no arguments," he said as Naruto went to protest before slumping back into his chair pouting under said mask. "You will need to meet Jiraiya at the west gate at noon today; he says he knows exactly where the target is."

He nodded and left the office.

* * *

He walked out of the office and into the training field that he usually meets his genjutsu instructor at. She was sitting under one of the trees seemingly meditating. "Hey Naruto-kun," She said before standing up and walking over to him.

"Hey, Kurenai-sensei." She giggled. "What?" he asked.

"When was the last time we were all formal here Naruto-kun?" she said, winking in what would seem to others a very un-Kurenai-like way.

He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head, "Gomen, Kurenai-chan."

"That's alright, Naruto-kun." She said before ruffling his hair. "So what's wrong?

"I have to leave to go on a mission for a month to find some chick that Ero-sennin and old man Hokage know, " She giggled at the nicknames. "So I won't be able to train with you for a month.."

She felt weird; it was almost as if she was upset that he would be gone for a month. She was happiest when she had these sessions and wished they didn't have to end. To have none for a month would be awful. "It's ok Naruto-kun, we can catch up." She said in a miserable tone. "But you might get a little behind Sakura and Sasuke."

"Hehe nah I doubt it. I think I can trust you with this Kurenai-chan." He went on to tell her everything about his kage bunshin training, how he figured it out, how Anko had been helping him keep it a secret and why he was keeping it a secret. He told her that he knew about the Kyuubi and the story of what really happened and all about the training the Kyuubi had been giving him and finally that he could no longer communicate with the Kyuubi. The look on Kurenai's face was one of pure shock. He saw this and inwardly cringed. _I thought maybe she would be alright with it…_

"I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me…now you know about the Kyuubi."

"What?!" she asked, "What do you mean, I've known about the Kyuubi for a long time, as Anko would have told you we weren't allowed to tell you. But, I can't believe that you would tell me, thank you for trusting me with this Naruto-kun."

"Of course I would Kurenai-chan, you're one of my precious people and I care for you a lot." He realised what he had said and blushed. "I'm sorry, I'll go." He turned and went to leave but was stopped by Kurenai who grabbed his wrist. He could have easily gotten loose, as she wasn't holding very tight, which they both knew. But he didn't pull away. He turned back around and looked up into her eyes. He was a little taller than Sasuke, having shot up in the past 7 years after being on a real diet since he was adopted, so there wasn't a large difference in height.

"D-do you really care for me, Naruto-kun?" All he could do was nod, entranced by her ruby red eyes. Consequences be damned, she leant in, slowly, until she was about an inch and a half away from his face, she slowly pulled down his face mask and wasn't stopped so she thought it was ok. Acting on his emotions alone, he leant in and closed the distance until their lips met. They shared their first kiss; it was slow, sensual, yet passionate and loving. They kissed until they felt the need for air. They parted and looked into each other's eyes, ruby red staring into cerulean blue. They both suddenly blushed and Naruto ran off.

_Oh my god, what have I done? He's only twelve…it's only 8 years…I know I wanted it, he's cute, caring, compassionate, funny, loyal, honest. I wanted it…but I don't think he did…_

* * *

He ran, not because he didn't want to be there, quite the opposite, he really, really wanted to be there in fact. _She must have made a mistake; maybe she was just happy I trusted her, that must be it._

He hurried back home to pack his stuff. He didn't trust his mouth so he placed a genjutsu on himself making himself invisible. He snuck in, packed everything he thought he would need and wrote a note explaining that he would be on a mission for the next month and that the Hokage could explain everything. He made sure the genjutsu was still on home before he left and headed for the west gate where he was told to go to.

* * *

He was passing through the main street heading for the gate when he heard something he really didn't want to hear at the moment. He was still a little confused and as such had a lot of thoughts flying around in his head at the moment.

"Hey gaki, how's it going."

"Anko-sensei, how are you this morning?"

"Not bad Naru-kun." She said as she got up beside him and licked his exposed cheek as she often did. He needed to get away from her at the moment, she was the one person that he would tell anything to and if he started talking he would do exactly that. He wasn't willing to talk to anyone about this yet until he made sense of it.

He turned and kissed her on the cheek, his mask still lowered and said "got to go, see ya later Anko-chan."

It had the desired effect. She was shocked that he'd do something like that. She froze up and when she turned to see where he was, he was nowhere to be seen.

_I'll get you back for that one gaki. _She thought as she headed back into the dango stand she was eating at.

* * *

He raced away before she could get her bearings back. It didn't take long for him to reach the gates and he saw Jiraiya standing there waiting. He grabbed his arm and pulled him along out of the gates. "Red eyed goddess…..crazy snake lady, need go now." He said before Jiraiya had a chance to protest.

After a while he let him go but kept up his pace. Jiraiya laughed at his students display and then noticed something. His lips were shiny. "Hey gaki, is that pink lip gloss on your lips?"

"NO! Stupid Ero-sennin."

"Haha my boy, got your first kiss eh?"

"Shutup Ero-sennin! Where are we going?" he snapped.

"We're going to get an old friend, now completely off with the mask."

_Now I know where she is, it's about time your godmother knows you're still alive._

* * *

Regarding Anko's age, yes that makes Orochimaru's defection after the Kyuubi attack, but this is AU and for this to work right, I need that age bracket, so umm yeah that's how it is :P


End file.
